Raelene KERINAUIA

born 1962, Bathurst Island
lives and works Melville Island
Skin name: Yikwani
Language group: Tiwi
Dreaming: Dance – Yirrikapayi (Crocodile)

On Australia’s Tiwi Islands the art of body painting for ceremonial culture has been practiced for thousands of years and the traditional forms of mark-making were derived from the creation story.  All Jilamara, (traditional Tiwi design), is originally drawn from the body painting which accompanied the Pukumani (funeral) and Kulama (initiation/yam) ceremonies.

Raelene Kerinauia’s painting comes from a style of traditional Tiwi ceremonial design called pwoja (shortened from yirrinkirripwoja), synonymous with the name of the painting comb. This comb, a simple device carved from ironwood, is used to create straight lines of dots, with up to 20 dots painted from a single stroke. These lines of dots are said to represent the raised lumps of a crocodile’s back, which are also known as pwoja.
 
This style of Jilamara painting, a slightly lesser-known aspect of the Tiwi repertoire, is in stark contrast to the free and gestural style made famous by the late Kitty Kantilla. Now, however, led by Jilamara president Pedro Wonaeamirri and Kerinauia, many painters among the younger generation of artists are using this device.
 
Kerinauia paints in a distinctive, highly controlled and refined style. She makes compositions where lines of dots create strictly structured designs, which are often symmetrical.

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