Tiwi Design
Northern Territory · Australia
After a rest and lunch in the shade, it’s time to re-visit Tiwi Design and participate in an exclusive ‘behind-the-scenes’ screen printing workshop. Choose from contemporary or traditional Tiwi design to print onto a take-home t-shirt, tea towel or fabric – a wonderful souvenir of your Tiwi visit.
Contents
8 sections · tap a section for its opening lines1Tiwi Design
Welcome to Tiwi Design, located on Bathurst Island, one of the two main islands that make up the Tiwi Islands, situated approximately 80 kilometers north of Darwin. This is a place where art is not merely an aesthetic pursuit but…
Listen in the app2The Smoking Ceremony: A Spiritual Welcome
The first experience for many visitors to Tiwi Design is the traditional Smoking Ceremony, a profound ritual of welcome and purification. During this ceremony, local guides collect leaves from the ironwood tree, which are then…
Listen in the app3The Screen Printing Studio: Modern Traditions
A core component of Tiwi Design is its world-renowned screen printing studio, where traditional motifs are adapted into striking textile designs. This studio is a place of high creative energy, where artists work on long tables,…
Listen in the app4Pukumani Poles and the Carving Shed
The carving shed at Tiwi Design is where the massive Pukumani poles are brought to life. These poles, also known as tutini, are central to the Tiwi funerary ceremony and represent one of the most distinctive forms of Australian…
Listen in the app5The Historic Mission Church
A short walk from the art center brings us to the historic Catholic Mission Church, a structure that tells a significant part of the islands' more recent history. Built in 1911, the church has stood for over a century and remains…
Listen in the app6The Museum: Stories of Survival and Art
The museum at Tiwi Design serves as a repository for the community’s history and a showcase for the evolution of their art. It houses historical photographs, early examples of screen printing, and significant carvings that tell…
Listen in the app7Landscape and the Tiwi Sunset
The natural beauty of Bathurst Island is the ultimate inspiration for the artists at Tiwi Design. The land provides not just the materials for art—the ironwood, the ochre, the grass roots—but also the stories that the art…
Listen in the app8Closing
Our journey through Tiwi Design on Bathurst Island concludes with a sense of the profound connection between the Tiwi people and their creative expression. We have stood in the smoke of the ironwood, witnessed the meticulous…
Listen in the app
What is Tiwi Design?
Tiwi Design is a place in Northern Territory · Australia with 8 story sections on Tellby. You can read the opening of each section on this page; the sound plays in the app.
| Location | Northern Territory · Australia |
|---|---|
| Type | Activity |
| Story sections | 8 |
| Text language | English |
| Coordinates | -11.7541, 130.6393 |
| Last updated |