Tiwi Island Bird Carving

morpeth antique centre hunte rvalley region indigenous tiwi island bathurst hard wood timber bird carving ochre painted artist aboriginal tokampini mortal being creation story tribal 85cm vintage
morpeth antique centre hunte rvalley region indigenous tiwi island bathurst hard wood timber bird carving ochre painted artist aboriginal tokampini mortal being creation story tribal 85cm vintage
morpeth antique centre hunte rvalley region indigenous tiwi island bathurst hard wood timber bird carving ochre painted artist aboriginal tokampini mortal being creation story tribal 85cm vintage
morpeth antique centre hunte rvalley region indigenous tiwi island bathurst hard wood timber bird carving ochre painted artist aboriginal tokampini mortal being creation story tribal 85cm vintage
morpeth antique centre hunte rvalley region indigenous tiwi island bathurst hard wood timber bird carving ochre painted artist aboriginal tokampini mortal being creation story tribal 85cm vintage
morpeth antique centre hunte rvalley region indigenous tiwi island bathurst hard wood timber bird carving ochre painted artist aboriginal tokampini mortal being creation story tribal 85cm vintage
morpeth antique centre hunte rvalley region indigenous tiwi island bathurst hard wood timber bird carving ochre painted artist aboriginal tokampini mortal being creation story tribal 85cm vintage

Tiwi Island Bird Carving

$980.00

1 in stock

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Description

Tiwi Island Bird Carving hand carved from hardwood timber and painted with natural earth pigments or paints.  Measures a very tall 85cm in height and is approximately 50 years old.  There is age related paint wear, chips and splits here & there.

Tiwi Islands are located in the Timor Sea and are a part of the Northern Territory, Australia.  They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island and nine smaller uninhabited islands.  The population today is approximately 2,500 people.

The creation of Indigenous Australian art has always been an important part of Tiwi Island culture & economy.  There are three Indigenous Art Centres on the islands and these collaborate through a co-operative venture Tiwi Art.  Bird Carvings represent birds from Tiwi mythology – totems, ancestral beings, weather bells for tropical storms & cyclones etc…  They are referred to as Tokampini. (A mortal being who acted as witnesses, messengers, mourners, informers & law makers.  Also fundamental in making and delivering to mortal Tiwi people the laws for the land.)

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