Conrad Tipungwuti

Conrad Tipungwuti has been painting and creating limited edition prints at Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association since the late 1990’s. Alongside Timothy Cook, Conrad is part of the Ngawa Mantawi (all of us together) program at Jilamara – a program that supports artists with special needs to have successful careers in the arts while remaining close to family and Country.

Conrad grew up in the “old camp” at Pirlangimpi (Garden Point) with his parents. While it no longer exists, the old camp is spoken about as a community of wulimawi (the old people) and Conrad was raised surrounded by strong culture and regular ceremonies. His Tiwi name is Kamilowra and this was given to him by the famous artist Cornelia Tipuamantumirri’s late husband Steven Tipuamantumirri. After his parents passed away, he moved to Nguiu and then Milikapiti to live with his aunt and uncle. They lived next door to Jilamara Arts and Conrad joined the art centre soon after.

Conrad paints using ochres or earth pigments sourced from around Milikapiti. The overarching themes of his work depict the wet season Pakatiringa (rain) and the Kulama initiation ceremony. This is represented by large concentric circles that refer both to the yams prepared during the ceremony and large rings that appear around the moon in late wet season signifying the beginning of the Kulama season.