Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
Jilamara Arts is a remote Indigenous art centre in Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands
The art centre is the cultural hub of the community and houses working studios, wood carving and screen-printing workshops, the architecturally designed Kutuwulumi Gallery and the Muluwurri Museum
Our Latest Artwork
Ningiwulla ngirramini kitirumi yilaruwu jilamara
keeping culture strong through art
Our Art Centre
Established in 1989, Jilamara Arts is owned and governed by artists from the community of Milikapiti on the Tiwi Islands. Through workshops, training and representation Jilamara members are supported to build careers as internationally renowned artists. In the community it is an important place for many generations of Tiwi people to build bright futures.
Our Culture
Jilamara artists are known for their Tiwi style, producing contemporary works based on ceremonial body painting designs, clan totems and Tiwi creation stories.
Our Art
The term Jilamara describes “design” based on ceremonial ochre markings on the body. Reimagining these styles at the art centre has fostered a dynamic creative field for maintaining Tiwi knowledge, as well as sharing and celebrating contemporary living culture.
Wurrungura
Wurrungura is a multi-media centre and digital archive for the audiovisual documentation and distribution of Tiwi heritage and culture.
Muluwurri Museum
Established in 1988, the collection is held in trust for the Milikapiti community. This important keeping place houses the priceless collection of Tiwi artefacts, carvings, paintings, prints, photographs and war medals.
Ngawa Mantawi
Jilamara’s Ngawa Mantawi program is an inclusive disability program at the art centre, that aims to support members with diverse needs to have sustainable careers in the arts, while living at home close to family and Country.
https://captur3d.io/view/uplands/jilamara-arts-crafts-and-muluwurri-museum 
We are Aboriginal owned and we produce authentic Tiwi art – ironwood carved birds and Tutini poles, ochre paintings on bark, canvas, linen and paper, original limited edition prints and hand screenprinted textiles.
Be part of Jilamara's continued success and join our community of supporters by making a donation in the form on your left
We’re on social @jilamaraartsandcrafts
Ahead of enrolling in a Masters of Conservation next year, Jilamara Arts and Muluwurri Museum staff Arthurina Moreen and Colin Puruntatameri recently spent a week at the University of Melbourne. They were working on a project studying the mineral qualities of the ochre earth pigments Jilamara artists dig up from Country to make all the art produced at the centre. Rina and CJ were able to present on where the colours are sourced and how they are used creatively and culturally, while learning more about how to analyse the composition of these materials.
Jilamara artists have remained dedicated to using locally sourced ochres from Country to paint and this was a great chance to learn more about the material makeup of every Jilamara artwork produced throughout the art centre’s 40 year history.
This project was in partnership with the university’s Cripps Institute of Cultural Conservation (formally Grimwade) and the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
Group photo left to right: Venera May, Rachel Popelka-Filcoff, Colin Puruntatameri, Vanessa Kowalski, Arthurina Moreen, Antonia Papasergio.
@robertcrippsinstitute @unimelb @colinjames_art
Wally Brooks has had a stellar couple of years at Jilamara Arts including a recent trip to the USA for his aminya Timothy Cook’s solo exhibition in New York at D’Lan Galleries and worked in conservation at the Kluge-Ruhe collection at the University of Virginia repairing a Tiwi tutini pole that had been damaged since 1987.
As a younger member of the organisation he wears many hats, working part time supporting the workshops and studios, as an artist himself and as the organisations Vice President.
Jilamara Arts and the Muluwurri Museum is 100% Tiwi controlled non profit ACNC registered charity. It is governed by a board of directors like Wally and they make the governance decisions for their centre.
Wally’s story really shows how working at an arts and culture centre like Jilamara can offer so many different opportunities including meaningful employment, cultural advocacy and significant public outcomes celebrating ancient living Tiwi art and culture!
This clip is an edit from a longer piece developed by Jilamara in association with Global Headquarters and ANKA to share the structure and governance of these great indigenous governed centres. Link to full version in bio…
@global_hq @ankaaboriginalartists
#wallybrooks #tiwiart #jilamaraarts
It is so great to see Jilamara artists represented in the newly opened Margaret Preston retrospective @ngvmelbourne !
In her pursuit of a unique Australian visual language, Margaret Preston studied and appropriated imagery from indigenous Australian art including Tiwi Island tunga (folded bark baskets decorated in earth pigments). As part of this exhibition the NGV acquired these three great contemporary examples of tunga made by three senior female artists working at Jilamara Arts — Kaye Brown, Mary Elizabeth Moreen and Raelene Kerinauia.
Congratulations ladies, these works powerfully represent Tiwi art and culture in this important exhibition!
📸 — Phoebe Powell
#jilamaraarts #kayebrown #maryelizabethmoreen #raelenekerinauia
‘This is my place, we own it together. Every decision we make is for our people.’ Mary Elizabeth Moreen 2025
Jilamara Arts in partnership with the amazing team at Global Headquarters and ANKA produced a short film outlining the organisation structure and governance story of Australia’s amazing indigenous governed art and culture centres!
Thanks for the introduction Mary Elizabeth Moreen, we are thinking of you. We will be releasing short edits on socials, link to the full version in our bio and on our website.
If you are interested in ethically supporting creative arts that celebrate and sustain ancient living culture, language and creativity please buy through these great organisations.
Jilamara Arts is controlled by a 100% Tiwi board of directors, it is a not-for-profit ACNC registered charity whose mission is to keep culture strong through art and manage the Muluwurri Museum collection — the only historical Tiwi collection on Melville Island.
The significant economic affect for these centres does not just go to a select few, but has real local community impact helping Tiwi people sustain meaningful careers in remote communities while staying home close to family and Country.
@global_hq
@ankaaboriginalartists
#jilamaraarts #tiwiart #tiwiculture #remoteartcentres
Kaye Brown amongst great company at Frieze London this week! Congratulations mantanga, you are an absolute star 💫 💫💫
Sullivan + Strumpf • @sullivanstrumpf
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This week at Frieze London, Sullivan+Strumpf debuts work by Atong Atem, Kaye Brown, Yvette Coppersmith and Sam Leach, while bringing works by Julia Gutman and Alex Seton back into view for audiences across UK and Europe.
Preview our Frieze London presentation via the link in bio or explore the works in person from 14 Oct 26.
See Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s Warrior Figure, 2026 as part of Frieze Sculpture during the fair.
Frieze London
14 Oct – 18 Oct 26
The Regent’s Park, London
@friezeofficial
@julia__gutman
@jilamaraartsandcrafts
@alexseton_
@yvettecoppersmith
@atongatem
@samleach_00
ramesh__mario
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ON VIEW NOW IN THE GALLERY:
This Is No Fantasy • @thisisnofantasy
A selection of works by Johnathon World Peace Bush, bringing figures from history, mythology and Western cultural narratives into dialogue with his distinctive Tiwi visual language.
Across these works, Bush turns his attention to Joan of Arc, Burke and Wills, and Themis, the ancient Greek goddess of justice, reimagining familiar figures through Jilamara, ochre and his own idiosyncratic storytelling.
Bush’s paintings bring seemingly disparate histories and cultures into the same visual field, creating unexpected connections between Tiwi Country and stories inherited through religion, mythology, colonial history, and popular culture.
Send us a DM or an email at info@thisisnofantasy.com for a list of Johnathon’s available works
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Images: Johnathon World Peace Bush, installation view, Sydney Contemporary 2026. Photo: Simon Strong
#thisisnofantasy @jilamaraartsandcrafts #johnathonworldpeacebush #jilamaraartsandcraftsassociation
Congratulations Wally Brooks on being selected as a finalist in the National Emerging Art Prize @nationalemergingartprize opening in Sydney later this month with his incredible work Wangatunga Jirtaka Jilamara (folded bark basket with sawfish design)✨✨✨
The National Emerging Art Prize is thrilled to announce our 2026 finalists! Selected from more than 1600 submissions, the 45 paintings and 20 photographs shortlisted for this year’s prize can now be explored online ahead of the NEAP Finalists Exhibition – open at The Garden Gallery in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden from 29 October to 11 November.
Thank you to all of the incredibly talented artists who entered this year and congratulations to our exceptional cohort of finalists. Steered by Amber Creswell Bell, NEAP’s panel of leading artists, tastemakers and culture industry heavyweights pored over every entry to determine the Class of 2026 and was deeply impressed by the calibre of submissions.
@morgans.australia @bellemagazineau @botanicsydney
#neap2026 #ne
TIMOTHY COOK: Kurluwukari | FINAL WEEK
Timothy Cook: Kurluwukari is now entering its final week at D Lan Galleries in New York. @dlangalleries
It has been a privilege to present Kurluwukari in collaboration with Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association, and to bring this important new body of work to audiences in the United States.
If you’re in New York, be sure to visit us in the gallery before 9 October to view these important works in person.
@jilamaraartsandcrafts
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Timothy Cook: Kurluwukari | Until 9 October 2026
D Lan Galleries
25 East 73rd Street
New York / Lenapehoking
Portrait: @gd.content
#timothycook #jilamara #contemporaryart #dlangalleries
The amazing Kaye Brown is presenting work at FRIEZE London this year! Showing with the great team at Sullivan + Strumpf, Kaye will have a selection of her works on stringybark showing at the major UK fair later this month. Congratulations mantanga ✨✨✨
Sullivan + Strumpf • @sullivanstrumpf
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FRIEZE London: Kaye Brown
We are pleased to present Kaye Brown at Frieze London 2026.
Brown’s work explores themes of being on Country on the Tiwi Islands – the sun, the stars, the sky and bush tucker.
First Nations artist Kaye Brown a senior Tiwi culture woman, who is well-versed in Tiwi culture, traditional stories and ‘hard’ Tiwi language. Prior to joining the Jilamara Arts and Crafts association, Brown taught at Milikpiti Primiary School and worked in the library. Rather than painting with a brush, Brown uses the kayimwagakimi, a traditional Tiwi painting ‘comb’ carved from ironwood.
Frieze London
14 Oct – 18 Oct 26
The Regent’s Park, London
@jilamaraartsandcrafts
@friezeofficial
Pictured: Kaye Brown, Yirrinkiripwoja (body paint design), 2026, locally sourced ochre on stringbark. 129 x 94 cm.
Behind the scenes look at material collection on the Tiwi Islands — the early stages of developing exhibitions like Timothy Cook’s incredible solo “Kurluwukari” on now in New York at DLan Galleries ✨✨✨
INSIGHTS | Process and Material Collection Short Film
Timothy Cook: Kurluwukari is now on view at D Lan Galleries in New York. We are delighted to share this short film offering insight into the material and processes fundamental to Cook’s practice.
Filmed on the Tiwi Islands in collaboration with Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association, the film follows Cook’s material and artistic processes, exploring how material, place and cultural knowledge come together to inform his work.
We invite you to view the full film on Insights via the link in our bio.
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@jilamaraartsandcrafts
Videography: Gus Davidson (@gdcontent)
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TIMOTHY COOK: Kurluwukari
10 September – 9 October
D Lan Galleries
25 East 73rd Street
New York / Lenapehoking
10021
Yesterday we opened the new look Murrijimuwu Manimpurruwa screen-printing workshop at Jilamara Arts in Milikapiti!
The original shed has been a permanent fixture at the art centre since the facility opened as an Adult Education Centre translating ceremonial body paint designs to wearable fabric in the early 1980s. Through the 1990s textile arts were fazed out in favour of painting studios and the shed housed a working space for some of Australia’s most accomplished artists to emerge from Jilamara —.such as Kitty Kantilla Kutuwulumi, Pedro Wonaeamirri and Timothy Cook.
In 2018, at the request of the organisation’s longest standing member Raelene Kerinauia screen-printing was again set up in the space with 26 new screen designs. In 2024, the organisation further reinstated a historical capsule collection of 9 designs from the centres origins in the 1980s. These designs were launched at DAAF that same year with a community-led fashion parade that received the National Indigenous Fashion Award for Community Collaboration.
Recently, after years of community members asking for the return of the amazing outfits made and worn around Milikapiti in 1980s, Jilamara had been able to reinstate sewing in the screen-workshop. With the generous support of NIAA through Remote Job and Economic Development, the organisation has been able to support more Tiwi staff working in the studio to make this possible.
This program has also supported the renovation of Jilamara’s iconic old shed. It is now lined, insulated, air conditioned and relatively dust free with bifold doors and great lighting, giving it a whole new lease on life ✨✨✨
#niaa #jilamaraarts #tiwiislands #screenprinting
We had an amazing time at the opening of Timothy Cook’s hallmark exhibition in New York City last week! Unfortunately, it was too far for Timothy to travel, he instead sent a career defining body of art work and a cohort of emerging Jilamara talent to share and celebrate his work!
Wally Brooks and Colin Puruntatameri did an amazing job speaking at the opening and singing | dancing in Timothy’s honour. They also presented the exhibition and spoke about the art centre with a group from the University of New York in the afternoon before the opening. It was amazing to meet and share with new US audiences, as well as see some familiar faces so far from home…
It was a great evening celebrating the incredible career of one of the Tiwi Island’s and Australia’s most recognised and accomplished artists! Congratulations Timothy Cook you are a super star 💫💫💫
KURLUWUKARI is on at D’Lan Galleries on the Upper East Side until October 9, 2026
@dlangalleries #timothycook #tiwiart #newyorkcity
Having recently exhibited at Sydney Contemporary with the amazing team at This Is No Fantasy, Johnathon is showing audiences some of his recent studies of the London skyline animated with with jilamara (Tiwi ochre designs) — inspired by his time at the opening of his exhibition at No.9 Cork St last year!
This Is No Fantasy • @thisisnofantasy
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Following his 2025 trip to London for 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴 at Frieze No.9 Cork Street, Johnathon World Peace Bush turns his attention to the city itself.
In this new body of work, familiar London landmarks are transformed through Bush’s distinctive visual language, bringing together observations from his travels with Tiwi Jilamara, figuration, and locally sourced natural earth pigments from Melville Island.
London’s monuments, architecture and symbols of power are absorbed into compositions grounded in the colours and visual traditions of Tiwi Country, continuing Bush’s ongoing dialogue between different histories, cultures and ways of seeing.
Bush made his international solo debut in London with 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴 at with THIS IS NO FANTASY at Frieze No.9 Cork Street in February 2025.
Send us a DM or an email at info@thisisnofantasy.com for a list of Johnathon’s available works
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Images:
1. Johnathon World Peace Bush, Tower Bridge, London, 2026
locally sourced earth pigments/ochres on linen, 150 x 150 cm
2. Johnathon World Peace Bush in London, 2025. Photograph by Will Heathcote, Courtesy Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association.
#thisisnofantasy @jilamaraartsandcrafts #johnathonworldpeacebush #jilamaraartsandcraftsassociation
Last week while we were in Charlottesville for the performance of Jilarti (2021) at the University of Virginia Rotunda, Wally Brooks had the chance to make a print at Infinite Repeats — print shop and gallery. @infiniterepeatsworldwide
With help from the great studio team he printed his Jirtaka (Sawfish) design in ochre pigments that we brought from the Tiwi Islands! He also introduced the studio to Wally’s Jilamara anthem Bawuypawuy — Drifting Clouds ✨✨
@klugeruhe @uva
#wallybrooks #infiniterepeatsworldwide #jilamaraarts #tiwiart
We had a great time presenting at the American Australian Association last night in the lead up to Timothy Cook’s incredible solo exhibition at D’Lan Galleries New York — what a view!
D’Lan • @dlandavidson
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Such a beautiful event tonight with @jilamaraartsandcrafts and @_aaausa put together by @lucilleannfoster for @dlangalleries for Timothy Cook.
#timothycook #jilamaraarts #dlangalleries #americanaustralianassociation #newyork
The Jilamara team have just arrived in New York ahead of an artist talk at the American Australian Association tonight, here is a sneak peak of the exhibition they will be talking about — Timothy Cook’s incredible show “Kurluwukari” opening tomorrow night ✨✨✨
@dlandavidson • I was jet lagged in New York - until I stepped into @dlangalleries … and now I’m wide awake!! WOW.
TIMOTHY COOK in New York - here’s your sneak peek!
#timothycook #jilamaraarts #tiwi #dlangalleries #newyork
We just had an unforgettable week in the Kluge-Ruhe cottage in Charlottesville, Virginia!
Jilamara Arts team Wally Brooks, Colin Puruntatameri and Will Heathcote had the chance to spend valuable time with the great Tiwi collection they have here at the University of Virginia. While in residence, they were also able to repair a damaged ironwood tutini pole by Sabo Tipiloura. Collected in the 1980s from Pima Art, this carving was damaged in transit to the USA and has never been exhibited. Fortunately, the broken pieces were kept and combined with some materials brought from the Tiwi Islands the work was able to be repaired.
The current Australian Ambassador to the USA, Greg Moriarty, even dropped in on Sunday to give us a hand ✨✨✨
Many thanks to the amazing team at Kluge-Ruhe, Henry Skerritt and Emmy Monaghan for your generous hospitality!
@klugeruhe @uva
#wallybrooks #colinheenanpuruntatameri #jilamaraarts #tiwiart #klugeruhe
Jilamara crew Colin Puruntatameri @colinjames_art , Wally Brooks and Will Heathcote @willheathcote_art had a great time in Washington DC last week! They are on their way to the Kluge-Ruhe at the University of Virginia to see Pedro Wonaeamirri’s award-winning multi-media work Jilarti (2021) enter the collection through a performance at the university’s rotunda.
They had the chance to see many of the capital’s monuments, have morning tea with Sara Moriarty, Richard Klingler and Jane Slatter at the Australian Ambassador’s residence that houses an amazing Timothy Cook in the dinning room. They also visited the Australian Embassy and Laura Nix showed them around the great art collection on site and spent time at the National Gallery of Art with curators Dakota Hoska and Lynn Matteny.
They will now spend a week at the Kluge-Ruhe Museum cottage in Charlottesville before travelling to New York City for Timothy Cook’s exhibition at D’Lan Galleries next week ✨✨✨
@klugeruhe
@uva
#pedrowonaeamirri #colinheenanpuruntatameri #wallybrooks #jilamaraarts #tiwiart
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The art centre is the cultural hub of Milikapiti Community, it is also an important place for local school children to learn through culture classes and for many generations of Tiwi people to build bright futures.
