Jukwarringa - Lorna Kantilla

Lorna Kantilla lives on Bathurst Island, the largest of the Tiwi Islands in Australia's far north. All Tiwi art is created using ochres which have been crushed and made into a permanent paint by mixing it with a fixative. The basic ochre are yellow and white. Yellow ochre when burnt in a fire turns to orange. Over time it becomes a progressively darker red colour. Charcoal is used to make the black paint often used as the base colour. These soft earthy pigments impart a patina that evokes the special region and culture from which they are drawn.

In this delicate work Lorna Kantilla has painted the Jilamara-body paint design for her clan and its Pig totem. The special dances and stores belonging to this and other Tiwi clans are related during the two most significant Tiwi ceremonies - the Kularma, or yam fertility ceremony, and the Pukamani mortuary ritual.