Murlikinyini jijiyni (Fat little bird - yellow) - Barry Kantilla

Barry Kanlla is a skilled carver who creates Tuni (poles) and figures of the Tiwi ancestral people Purukapali, Bima and Tapara.

While Barry is very well recognised for his carved heads, figures and birds, it is his carved ironwood Tuni that have become famous. He made a collaborative carving with David Tipuamantumirri for the Dutch Ambassador to Australia in 2005, and carved a Tuni for the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Tiwi Land Council in 2008.

In 2006 Barry and four other Tiwi carvers exhibited Tuni in several interstate locations and in 2008 he was chosen to carve a Tuni for the entrance to the Nguiu (Wurrumiyanga) Cemetery funded by the Commonwealth Government.

Barry’s work is held in the Artbank collection, Darwin Catholic Cathedral, the Charles Darwin University Art Collection and in many Australian private collections.

His recent work shows his love and observation of birds in smaller elegant groups of carvings which are much in demand, as well as his carved figure of Tapara, the Moon man.

In 2022 Barry, in the collaborative group of carvings with Gordon Pupangamirri, David Tipuamantumirri and Graham Tipungwu, was selected for the Wynne Prize, Art Gallery NSW, for their carvings, “First Death on the Tiwi Islands”.