We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.
Timothy Cook (artist) / Anmatyerre/Arrernte people / Australia c.1925–89 / Patrick Freddy Puruntatameri (Carver) / Tiwi people / Australia b.1973 / Tutini 2011 / Carved ironwood with natural pigments and synthetic binder / 297 x 24cm (diam.) / Purchased 2012. Queensland Art Gallery / Collection: QAGOMA / © Timothy Cook and Patrick Freddy Puruntatameri/Licensed by Viscopy
Timothy CookTutini 2011
Not Currently on Display
These massive solid log sculptures, known as Tutini or Pukumani poles, are central to the Tiwi Pukumani ceremony associated with death and mourning. Pukumani is performed as an assurance of life after death to ensure the safe journey of the spirit to the spirit world. The
ironwood poles carved from local trees are unique to the Tiwi Islands. After the burial they are left to weather through the seasons and can be seen standing as monuments to the importance of the deceased, with larger and more elaborate poles or groups of poles denoting a person’s higher standing.
Timothy Cook’s Tutini are painted in his own distinctive jilamara, or ‘good designs’ made of circles and dots, each aspect having particular meaning for the artist.
Timothy Cook was born into the House Fly skin group of the Tiwi people at Milikapiti, Melville Island, in 1958. His ‘murrakapupuni’ (country) is centred on Goose Creek. Cook is one of the leading practitioners among a group of younger-generation emerging Tiwi artists who are rapidly gaining acclaim.
Cook paints in a free and gestural style reminiscent of many older Tiwi artists, such as the late Kitty Kantilla and Freda Warlpini. Bold lines, shapes and circles, and contrasts gained through the thick application of natural pigments, produces the striking, free-flowing paintings for which Cook is recognised. Jilamara, Milikapiti, Melville Island is Cook’s own unique jilamara painting, specifically based on the region where he lives.