Kulama is very special ceremony for Tiwi people. End of wet season we have Kulama. We make fire and cook special Kulama yam. This ceremony is for initiation, good health, good marriage, good hunting and children get Tiwi names from family. They sing for three days and three nights. After when that Kulama finished we dance for our sister `Kulama’. - Margaret Renee Kerinauia

Every year as the wet season ends and the rains begin to slow, the Tiwi people perform the Kulama (Yam) ceremony. It is a celebration of rejuvenation and life in which songs and dances are performed to usher in a prosperous future and ensure good health and abundance for the following year. The Tiwi paint their bodies with ochre in the Jilamara or body paint designs associated with Kulama. It is these designs that Margaret Renee Kerinauia, Roslyn Orsto and Ita Tipungwuti have chosen to celebrate in Kulama Jilamara. It is a fitting subject for these three emerging artists, who represent a new generation at Tiwi Design.

At 29 years of age, Roslyn Orsto is the youngest painter at Tiwi Design. Along with Margaret Renee Kerinauia (b.1978) and Ita Tipungwuti (b.1966), Roslyn is part of a dynamic new guard of artists working at Bathurst Island. In 2007, the artists of Tiwi Design received an Australia Council grant to facilitate senior artists in passing on traditional knowledge of ceremony and Jilamara to emerging artists. As a result of this grant, emerging artists such as Margaret and Roslyn were able to learn from the tutelage of Tiwi masters such as Jean Baptiste Apuatimi.

Born in 1940, Jean Baptiste is one of the most respected artists of the Tiwi Islands. Her work is currently touring Australia as part of Culture Warriors: The National Indigenous Triennial currently on display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Margaret Kerinauia takes the traditional designs of the Yirrikapayi Turwara (Crocodile Tail) and renders it in vivid ochres, creating shimmering works of abstract intensity. Margaret was a finalist in the 2007 Togart Art Awards in Darwin.

In contrast to the broad expressionism of Margaret Renee, the works of Roslyn Orsto reveal an interest in the more delicate elements of Jilamara. Using the wooden comb technique, Roslyn applies lines of gentle and shimmering dots. In her most recent works, the grace of these undulating dots has been heightened by her use of a gentle palette of pale pinks, greys and ochres on a white ground.

According to Ita, “I like drawing, it makes me feel alright. My paintings tell stories.” Tipungwuti’s focus on drawing is apropos, for in her works, the line is central.

Mossenson Galleries in conjunction with Tiwi Design (Bathurst Island) are pleased to present Kulama Jilamara: New Works by Margaret Renee Kerinauia, Roslyn Orsto and Ita Tipungwuti. The exhibition will be opened at 115 Hay Street, Subiaco at 6pm on Tuesday 7 October 2008 by Dr John Stanton, Director of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia.