Carol Puruntatameri
1959 -
REGION | Yapalika (Melville Island, NT)
LANGUAGE | Tiwi
ART CENTRE | Munupi Arts & Crafts
Carol Puruntatameri was born in 1959 on Wurrumiyanga (Bathurst Island) and later moved to Pirlangimpi on Melville Island, her father’s country, where she developed a profound connection to Tiwi cultural traditions. Growing up within a family deeply engaged in ceremony and art, Puruntatameri’s early exposure to Tiwi painting was shaped by her uncle, the respected artist Justine Puruntatameri, who actively taught her and other family members at the Munupi Art Centre. She was also influenced by her father’s work painting Pukumani poles and his participation in Kulama ceremonies, including the traditional body painting he performed with a mirror.
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPAL
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AU$19,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$19,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPAL (DIPTYCH)
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AU$18,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$7,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$5,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$4,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$3,500.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$3,500.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$3,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPAL
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AU$1,800.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$19,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$18,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$7,500.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$7,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPAL
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AU$4,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$4,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$3,500.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$3,000.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI PURRUKUPALI
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AU$2,200.00
CAROL PURUNTATAMERI - YIPALI AND PURRUKUPALI
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AU$0.00
PROFILE
Carol Puruntatameri
1959 -
REGION | Yapalika (Melville Island, NT)
LANGUAGE | Tiwi
ART CENTRE | Munupi Arts & Crafts
Carol Puruntatameri was born in 1959 on Wurrumiyanga (Bathurst Island) and later moved to Pirlangimpi on Melville Island, her father’s country, where she developed a profound connection to Tiwi cultural traditions. Growing up within a family deeply engaged in ceremony and art, Puruntatameri’s early exposure to Tiwi painting was shaped by her uncle, the respected artist Justine Puruntatameri, who actively taught her and other family members at the Munupi Art Centre. She was also influenced by her father’s work painting Pukumani poles and his participation in Kulama ceremonies, including the traditional body painting he performed with a mirror.
Puruntatameri vividly recalls her childhood experiences of cultural rituals, noting: “Our fathers told all us girls: ‘Go down and cut sticks from mangroves to use in the ceremony.’ The sticks were put in a circle around the middle circle and the men go out and collect the Kulama (bush yam). We were all there, all my family, when our fathers were doing Kulama ceremony.” These formative experiences deeply inform her artistic practice, which reflects the ceremonial life, ancestral stories, and cultural heritage of the Tiwi people.
Her painting practice began through observing and copying her father’s work. Her paintings often tell stories, combining intricate geometric designs rendered with natural ochres on bark, embodying the spiritual and cultural narratives of Tiwi ceremony. She advocates for the preservation of cultural treasures such as clap sticks and Tokoinga—ceremonial balls made from beeswax and feathers—expressing a vision to establish a museum at Munupi Art Centre to educate future generations and preserve Tiwi heritage.
Since joining Munupi Arts in 2010, Puruntatameri has become a leading contemporary Tiwi bark painter. Her contributions were recognised in 2024 when she was selected as a finalist in the prestigious Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), cementing her position as a vital voice within Indigenous Australian art.
ARTIST CV
Selected Collections:
Art Gallery of South Australia , Adelaide, SA
Richmond Football Club, Melbourne (Maurice Rioli Room)
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2025 Purunguparri, Laundry Gallery, Darwin NT
Selected Group Exhibitons:
2025Melbourne Art Fair 2025- Alison Puruntatameri & Carol Puruntatameri Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne Vic
2024Ngini Ngawula Pikaryingini (Our Stories), Hilton Double Tree; Darwin; NT
2024Yoi, SAATCHI Gallery; UK
2024Rising Stars, Outstation Gallery; Darwin; NT
2024Across the Water Exhibition Artitja Fine Art; Fremantle; WA
2024Yoi GJM London; UK
2024Game, Set, Match. Cooee Art Leven ; Redfern NSW
2023Rotary Club Victor Harbor Art Show 2024, Victor Harbor Sa 5211
2023Ngarukuruwala Kapi Murrukupuni (we sing to the land), Cooee Art Leven; Redfern; NSW
2022Art of Tiwi Artists of Munupi- Tarnanthi Festival 2023 Exhibition Aiarts gallery; Belair ; SA
2022NGININGUWULA KURRUJIPUNI Our Own Tiwi Ochre Colours Darwin Hilton Double Tree, august
2022LINE IN PARRALLEL Artitja Fine Art Gallery; South Fremantle; WA
2022Tiwi Creation. Cooee Art Leven Redfern, NSW
2021Rotary Club Victor Harbor Art Show 2022 Victor Harbor SA 5211
2021Earth Magic Tineriba Art Gallery, Hahndorf, SA 2021
2021Earth Magic AIARTS, Belair, SA 2021
2021Tiwi Papers; Tarnanthi Festival 2021; Art Gallery of South Australia
2021YIRRINKIRRIPWOJA JILAMARA Darwin Hilton Double Tree, august 2021
2020Tiwi Islands to Arnhemland Munupi Maningrinda Artitja Fine Art Gallery; South Fremantle; WA
2019Pupini Jilamara Nginingwula (our Beautiful paintings). Hilton Double Tree Hilton, August 2019
2017Earth Matters. Form: The Goods Shed; Claremont: WA; 6010; 29 September 17 to 27 February
2017Yrringinkirri Pwoja Hilton Double Tree Hilton, August 2017
2016Point of difference;Desent to sea. Artitja fine Art at Engine Room.Perth.WA
2016Ngawila Jilamara Exhibition. Hilton Double Tree, Darwin Nt
2016Spirutual Materialism. Illena Tounta Art Centre, Athens , Greece
2014WE ARE TIWI, Munupi Artists from Melville Island. Artitja Fina Art, Fremantle, WA
2013‘Nga-wuja arungwapi We are going forward’. Tiwi Art Network Annual Exhibition, Darwin, NT
2011‘Munupi Artists of Melville Island’. Artitja Fine Art, Fremantle, W.A
2011‘Nginingawila Kurrujipini (Our Colour)’ Tiwi Art Network, Darwin, NT
Bibliography:
2016Spiritual Materialism; Dimitios Antonitsis; Illeana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre, Athens, Greece
Awards:
2024Finalist, Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
2024Victor Harbor Art Show 24 - indigenous Art Award; (Icon Cancer Centre)
MARKET ANALYSIS
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