Michelle Woody

My name is Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni, I come from a long line of people of the Tiwi Islands. We trace our ancestors back through story to Purukuparli and his Mother Murtankala – the original wulimaka – old lady who came up from underground and brought light by making the sun with fire. They are the people that are the Tiwi creation story.

Murtankala, Purukuparli, Japarra, Wai’ai and Jinani. From that time Purukuparli held the first Pukumani ceremony for his son Jinani, that kirijini was the first Tiwi to pass away.

Purukuparli had the first ceremony on the beach at Yimpanari and he yoyi with that kirijini’s body and danced into the winga (salt water). Now all us Tiwi mob follow them. That story tells us about the original family – the story of all of us life, death and mourning for family.'  Michelle Woody, 2024

'Michelle offers us a full life cycle in this body of work. She paints her Country in Ngiya Murrakupupuni (my Country), musing on the ancestral creation stories from the old lady Murtankala. She brings us elements of yoyi (dance) in the decorative adornment coupled with Jilamara, on her bark paintings and the tunga that is used to disguise dancers from spirits while they perform yoyi around the Tutini during Pukumani (mourning) ceremony.'

Source: Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni - In Relation, Agency Projects, Melbourne, courtesy of the artist and Jilamara Arts and Crafts, Melville Island NT

The Pukumani ceremony is the culmination of ritual mourning for a deceased person. Several months after the burial, family commission in-laws of the deceased to carve and decorate elaborate tutuni. These are then placed at the gravesite during a showy performance of song and dance, and tunga (bark bags) are placed upside down on top of the poles to signify the end of life.

These sculpturally beautiful 'artworks' are left to the elements, returning to the bush from which they are made. Traditionally Tiwi use bloodwood for tutuni, but cured ironwood is the prefered timber for commercial carvings thanks to its durability. Current practice of carving pukumani poles is an expression of the artist's cultural heritage through contemporary art. They are created as an artistic form of expression to be viewed and appreciated by a broader public with the intention to maintain and share Tiwi cultural knowledge. Tutuni carved with a pronged or forked apex represents the fight between Purukuparli and his brother Taparra the moon man. Diamond and curved shapes are a female embodiment, but each pole represents all and everything that is Tiwi culture.

Text: Jilamara Arts and Crafts, Melville Island, NT in 2024 reproduced with permission of the artist and Jilamara Arts and Crafts.