Untitled, Timothy Cook
Stringybark bag, 56cm x 89cm
Provenance: Tiwi Art at Darwin Art Fair, Darwin.
Timothy Cook lives and works at Milikapiti on Melville Island as a member of the Jilamara Arts & Crafts Association. His art is deeply personal and he likes to capture the designs passed from his elders. Cook’s paintings, prints and carvings strongly represent the Tiwi ceremonial practices, particularly the Kulama (yam ceremony) and Pukumani (funeral ceremony), as well as stories of Purukapali, one of the great mythological Tiwi ancestral figures. Cook particularly likes to use dots (pwanga) as elements of his designs; dots are his "favourite special" due to the fact that ochre dots are applied to his face for ceremonies. The dots are applied by his bunji – a kinship relationship term which means mate, or in-law. Cook says “I will take a painting to heaven so my mother will recognise me” (1).
Tunga's are made from stringybark bark, which can only be collected during the wet season when the bark is moist and flexible. The bark is cut using a chainsaw, stripped smooth with a knife and cured over a fire before being bent into shape and sewn up with a bush string stripped from the native hibiscus. The tunga is left to dry for a few days before being painted with locally gathered ochres. Tungas were an everyday necessity for Tiwi, used to carry food. When a Tiwi person dies the tunga is placed upturned on the pukumani pole (grave-post) signifying the end of life (2).
Other works by this artist: