Natalie Puantulura is an artist from the Tiwi Islands, 80 kilometres north of Darwin. Her paintings tell the Jilamara Body Paint Story. During ceremony on the Tiwi Islands, a series of yoi (dances) are performed; some are totemic (inherited from the person’s mother) and some serve to act out the narrative of
newly composed songs. Participants in these ceremonies are painted with turtiyanginari (the different natural ochre colours), using a wooden Pwoja comb (also called Kayimwagakini, meaning ‘bone’). The designs are called Jilamara body paint designs and they are used to transform the dancers and, in
some cases, provide protection against recognition by mapurtiti (spirits). Natalie is of the Japajapunga (March Fly) skin group and her dance is the Yirrikipayi (Crocodile).

Traditionally, the Pwoja combs are made from bloodwood or ironbark and are about 15 centimetres in height (ensuring they can be held firmly) with a single row of teeth at the base. The comb is dipped in ochre and applied to the body creating dotted lines. A completed collection of dots is called yirrinkiripwoja.

 

Natalie was born in 1975 in Darwin. She was taught to paint by her grandfather, Declan Apuatimi (Senior) the late husband of renowned Tiwi artist Jean Baptiste. As Jean’s granddaughter, Natalie was also taught about Tiwi culture and painting by her grandmother.