Title

Kitty Kantilla.

Author

Australian Art Print Network.

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

2001

Type

Biography

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Kitty Kantilla

Kitty Kantilla is from Yimpinari country on Melville Island. During the 1970s she moved to Bathurst Island, the smaller of the two Tiwi Islands, to live in her mother’s country. It was here that she began working as an artist, initially as a carver.

Around 1985 she moved back to live in Milikapiti, a settlement on Melville Island, where she began to produce her more contemporary work. She is acknowledged as one of the leading Tiwi artists in Australia.

She is best known for her distinctive use of ochres on paper, canvas, bark and ironwood. Drawing on her Dreaming stories for inspiration, Kantilla produces both paintings and sculpture. Her work is based on traditional designs, including those used during the Pukamani ceremony, the traditional Tiwi burial ceremony which is one of the cornerstones of the Tiwi’s traditional and spiritual beliefs. A wide variety of geometric designs are painted on the burial poles and body of participants during the ceremony and this is what Kantilla draws upon in her work. Every line, dot or marking has an important meaning. She translates traditional into new and abstract designs. Her work is both subtle and strong, with intricate lines of dots, bold areas of solid ochre and sections of delicate line work. In her printmaking her works are a true representation of the marks of an artist.

She has shown in many group exhibitions throughout Australia since 1989 and in several individual shows in Sydney since 1993.

Biography courtesy of the Australian Art Print Network, 2001.

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