# ngaruwanajirri.org.au At Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island, one beautiful building known as the Tiwi Sistine Chapel or The Keeping Place houses a small group of Tiwi artists who attend daily to create artwork in a peaceful environment. ## Pages - [Ken Wayne Kantilla](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/ken-wayne-kantilla): Ken Wayne Kantilla works at Ngaruwanajirri Art Centre and is the current Chairman. He produces delicately executed works on paper with painstaking skill as well as paintings on canvas, ironwood carvings, and natural ochres on shells. - [Exhibitions](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/exhibitions): Ngaruwanajirri artists are represented by leading private Galleries in each state. Some show the art of several individuals in group shows and others represent one or perhaps two artists. As a Centre for art we all participate in major exhibitions periodically at State Galleries and Universities as well as other events - [Tiwi Culture and Ceremonies](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/tiwi-culture-and-ceremonies): Tiwi people have lived on Bathurst and Melville Island for thousands for years and maintain a unique language and culture deeply embedded with a connection to land, skin group, dance, song and artistic styles, all developed in isolation from the mainland. - [Art making](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/art-making): Ngaruwanajirri is home to a variety of different art making, including carving, natural ochres, water colours, printing and batik. - [Our story](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/our-story): At Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island, one beautiful building known as the Tiwi Sistine Chapel or The Keeping Place houses a small group of Tiwi artists who attend daily to create artwork in a peaceful environment. - [Romeo James Ullungura](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/romeo-james-ullungura): Romeo has worked in fish farming at Barra Base, Port Hurd, Bathurst Island and the Forestry plantations on Melville Island. Bede Tungatalum and Barry Kantilla have been role models for Romeo with his carving work. - [Artists](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/artists): Discover the stories of the Ngaruwanajirri artists and their incredible work, spanning a variety of media including natural ochres, printing, batik, carving and water colours. - [Support us](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/support-us): Ngaruwanajirri Incorporated is an Aboriginal Association and is registered as a Charity with the ACNC. It has ATO Tax Deductibility Status. Ngaruwanajirri belongs to the Indigenous Art Code and ANKA.If you would like to find out how you can support Ngaruwanajirri, please reach out to us. - [Albert Tipiloura](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/albert-tipiloura): Albert (Rabbity) has worked with Ngaruwanajirri over many years. In the past he has helped with housing construction, however he has loved doing carvings since he was a young child. - [Alfonso Puautjimi](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/alfonso-puautjimi): Alfonso Puautjimi is a widely exhibited major artist well known for his natural ochre works on paper and canvas. Alfonso has been painting with the Ngaruwanajirri group since 1997. - [Estelle Munkanome](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/estelle-munkanome): Estelle Munkanome began working with the Ngaruwanajirri Art Centre, Bathurst Island, in 1996. Her early works with natural ochres were very delicate but her later paintings became bolder in line, colour and dot. - [Home](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/): At Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island, one beautiful building known as the Tiwi Sistine Chapel or The Keeping Place houses a small group of Tiwi artists who attend daily to create artwork in a peaceful environment. - [Contact](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/contact): If you have a question or would like to enquire about purchasing art, please get in touch. - [Jane Tipuamantumirri](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/jane-tipuamantumirri): Jane Margaret is one of the Centre’s notable painters on paper. She draws her subject matter from the wild life of the Island such as fish, magpie geese and sharks as well as craft items used by Tiwi including Tunga, (painted bark carriers) and arm bands worn for ceremonial dances. - [Bruce Tipuamantumirri](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/bruce-tipuamantumirri): Bruce has had a lengthy association with the Keeping Place A carver of wood, he learnt to utilise mechanised tools and saws as well as hand held gouging implements when he worked with the Adult Education program in 1994 and soon joined in with the new Ngaruwanajirri arts activities later in 1994. - [Marcia Kantilla](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/marcia-kantilla): Marcia was a valuable member of the group helping translate in meetings and helping with any disputes between artists. She designed lino blocks, created many ochre works on paper and hand painted lino block prints on fabric for cushion covers. - [Samson Poantumilui](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/samson-poantumilui): Samson was an extremely clever and creative designer and painter. He was responsible over many years for all the lino blocks created at Ngaruwanajirri for printing t-shirts and for the annual Football Grand Final t-shirts. The Tiwi Flag was mainly created by Samson. - [Lorna Kantilla](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/lorna-kantilla): Lorna Kantilla has been working at the Ngaruwanajirri Art Centre, Bathurst Island, since it was established in 1994. Lorna works with natural ochres on paper and canvas, and batik on silk using Drimarine K and Naphthol dyes. - [The Keeping Place](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/the-keeping-place): Our beautiful Heritage listed workshop known as the Keeping Place and evocatively as the “Tiwi Sistine Chapel” features a renowned ceiling painted by past Tiwi masters of design and culture. This ceiling serves as daily inspiration for those below. - [Thomas Munkanome](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/thomas-munkanome): Thomas began carving in the late 1980s along side some of the most well known and respected Tiwi carvers. His carvings resemble the traditional Tiwi style. Carved cockatoos and pelicans are trade mark works by Thomas. - [Arthur Arthanasius Puruntatameri](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/arthur-arthanasius-puruntatameri): Since leaving school, Arthur has always had work. Past work includes Bathurst Island Housing and CDEP with the Shire Council. Since working with Ngaruwanajirri Arthur enjoys working each day doing carving. - [Francis Kerinaiua](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/francis-kerinaiua): “A long time ago I worked for the Council, then Forestry at Pickaramore for four years, and then Silvatec. After this I started carving with Ironwood. I watched my Aunt Rachel carve and she showed me how to carve and paint. I also learnt from the famous Tiwi carver, Declan Apuatimi.” - [Barry Kantilla](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/barry-kantilla): Barry Kantilla is a skilled carver preferring to sculpt Tutini and the figures of the Tiwi ancestral people Purukapali, Bima and Tapara. While Barry is very well recognised for his carved heads, figures and birds, it is his carved ironwood Tutini that have become famous. - [Marie Yvonne Tipuamantumirri](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/marie-yvonne-tipuamantumirri): Marie Yvonne Tipuamantumirri has been working at Ngaruwanajirri since 2002 when she was included in an inclusive group exhibition at the Coomalie Cultural Centre, Batchelor, NT. - [Gilbert Alimankini](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/gilbert-alimankini): Gilbert was a Domestic Violance co-ordinator with Corrections and a Policing Liason Officer at the Wurrumiyanga Police Station prior to working with Ngaruwanajirri. He was involved in four Darwin exhibitions with Ngaruwanajirri from 2016 to 2019 where he exhibited some remarkable and creative Ironwood carvings. - [David Tipuamantumirri](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/david-tipuamantumirri): David Tipuamantumirri produces Ironwood carvings and decorates them using natural ochre paints. David's carving of Purukupali (as part of a collaborative group of carvings) was selected for the Wynne Prize in 2022. - [John Martin Tipuamantumirri](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/john-martin-tipuamantumirri): John Martin Tipuamantumirri worked at Ngaruwanajirri during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Early in his time there he was responsible for making morning tea for the artists and working in the grounds. - [Gordon John Pupangamirri](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/gordon-john-pupangamirri): Gordon is an important member of the Ngaruwanajirri team. A past executive member of ANKA the association for Aboriginal artists across the NT, he has had extensive experience in many roles in the Indigenous art industry, as a prominent leader, an advisor, a curator, and touring and speaking with Tiwi Art shows. - [Alexandrina Kantilla](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/alexandrina-kantilla): Alexandrina Kantilla has been exhibiting her work since her first group exhibition, Pupuni Yinkiti Arimuwu Kapi Winga, Good Food- Sea Food, an ArtBack Nets Travelling Exhibition from 2000-2004. - [Graham Tipungwuti](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/graham-tipungwuti): Graham Tipungwuti has made furniture for Tiwi homes and businesses and enjoys working with wood. Now preferring to carve timber (ironwood) his sculptures and other art works have been shown at several pivotal Ngaruwanajirri shows since he joined. - [Lillian Kerinaiua](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/lillian-kerinaiua): Lillian Kerinaiua joined Ngaruwanajirri Art Centre, in 1994 and her work has featured in most of the major exhibitions since then. Her main preference is for painting with watercolour or natural ochres on paper, and painting with natural ochres on canvas. ## Blog Posts - [Mix and Match - A New Sense of Harmony](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/mix-and-match-a-new-sense-of-harmony) - [If Walls Could Talk: Imbuing Walls with New Meaning](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/if-walls-could-talk-imbuing-walls-with-new-meaning) - [First Impressions. The Outside View that Lasts Longest](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/first-impressions-the-outside-view-that-lasts-longest) - [New Partners and Associates](https://www.ngaruwanajirri.org.au/new-partners-and-associates)