Tiwi Textiles: Design, Making, Process

About Bede TungutalumDiana Wood Conroy

Diana Wood Conroy is an artist and scholar. Her research interests combine contemporary visual cultures with the archaeology of fresco and textiles in Cyprus in many publications most recently in The Handbook of Textile Culture (with Janis Jefferies and Hazel Clark in 2018) and in Weaving Culture in Europe (published in Athens Greece 2017). Her artwork in tapestry and drawing is held in national and international collections. She is Emeritus Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Wollongong Australia. Bede Tungutalum Ampuruwaiuah Tuuntulumi Tiwi people was born in 1952 at Wurrumiyanga (Nguiu) Bathurst Island northern Australia. His father well-known sculptor Gabriel Tungutalum taught him to carve and paint traditional designs as well as ceremonial stories songs and dances. Bede Tungutalum works in a wide range of mediums including carved and painted wooden sculpture lino and textile prints woodblocks etchings and lithographs. His work is held in most national galleries in Australia. In 2020 Bede received the Special Recognition prize at the inaugural National Indigenous Fashion Awards recognising 50 years in textiles.