Tiwi Ceremonial Two-Pronged Club, c. 1960s

natural earth pigments on carved wood

86 cm

$600

Provenance: Tiwi Islands, NT Private Collection NSW
Artwork story: This Tiwi Ceremonial Two-Pronged Club is a special form of elaborately carved and painted spear used in ceremonial display rather than as functional weapons or implements. This ceremonial work is used both in the pukamani-mortuary ceremony and the Kularma -sacred yam ceremony, an initiation ritual for young men that is timed with the harvest of a specific wild yam. The ochre designs are called Jilamara. Part of the Jialamara are the minga which are rows of painted lines and dots applied to ceremonial regalia and these are painted with a pwata-wooden comb. The ochre paints are red: Yaringa; yellow: arikuningah; white: titiyangini; and black: tuniwini.

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natural earth pigments on carved wood

86 cm

$600

Provenance: Tiwi Islands, NT Private Collection NSW
Artwork story: This Tiwi Ceremonial Two-Pronged Club is a special form of elaborately carved and painted spear used in ceremonial display rather than as functional weapons or implements. This ceremonial work is used both in the pukamani-mortuary ceremony and the Kularma -sacred yam ceremony, an initiation ritual for young men that is timed with the harvest of a specific wild yam. The ochre designs are called Jilamara. Part of the Jialamara are the minga which are rows of painted lines and dots applied to ceremonial regalia and these are painted with a pwata-wooden comb. The ochre paints are red: Yaringa; yellow: arikuningah; white: titiyangini; and black: tuniwini.