Works from the Batchelor Institute Art Collection form part of a major survey exhibition of Tiwi art currently showing at Charles Darwin University’s Midpul Art Gallery until mid-July. The exhibition, Yipapirraya arnuwujaputi … Tide going out, tide coming in, reflects a history of Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association (at Milikapiti, Melville Island) since its inception in 1989. This history is explored through work from Jilamara’s own Muluwurri Museum collection and from the CDU’s art collection—particularly through a recent and substantial donation of Jilamara-related works.

Two Institute collection works are on loan for this exhibition: Freda Warlapinni’s Tiwi motif (1998) screenprint and an Untitled (2000) painting by Kitty Kantilla (Kutuwalumi Purawarrumpatu). The work by Warlapinni (c. 1928-2003) is one of the first works encountered in the exhibition, signifying her status as one of Jilamara’s so-called ‘ancients’ who were part of the art centre’s first cohort of artists. Kantilla (c. 1928-2003) was also part of this cohort and went on to become one of Jilamara’s most renowned and successful artists with the art centre’s Kutuwulumi Gallery named in her honour. Kantilla’s Untitled painting was commissioned by Batchelor Institute and is considered an important example of her work having previously been loaned for the artist’s major retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2007.