Melbourne Art Fair 2025 — Conrad Tipungwuti & Walter Brooks

In 2O25, the Vivien Anderson Gallery booth at Melbourne Art Fair will feature the work of two Tiwi artists from across generations — Conrad Tipungwuti and Walter Brooks.

Established artist Conrad Tipungwuti presents a suite of impressive new earth pigment paintings on linen that articulate the Tiwi warnarringa (Sun) ceremony. As gestural compositions of kurluwukari, pwanga, marlipinyini [circles, dots and lines] in turtiyanginari [locally sourced earth pigments], Tipungwuti’s paintings express in paint his deeply held Tiwi beliefs with raw intensity.  His warnarringa are radiant and omnipotent, redolent of his confidence that the sun will always rule the land and the sky.

Alongside these bold gestural works, emerging artist Walter Brooks is an ambitious, committed Tiwi carver who masterfully animates his carvings with a supple hand — a very difficult task given ironwood is one of the hardest woods in the world.

Brooks focuses on the Tiwi creation narrative of Purukuparli and the tragic love triangle that brought mortality for the Tiwi people. Walter’s carvings manifest with a theatrical flourish the ecstasy and grief of each protagonist, be it Purukapali, Bima, Japara or the  witness/messenger  Tokwampini, to the tragic death of the baby Jinani.

Together the works in the exhibition offer an insight into the long-standing living culture of Tiwi art making and ceremonial practice on the islands.