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Jean Baptiste Apuatimi

DOB: 24th June,1940
Birthplace: Pirlangimpi, Melville Island
Skin Group: Japijapunga (March Fly)
Dance: Buffalo
Art Centre: Tiwi Design, Bathurst Island
Medium: Painting ochre on canvas, ochre on paper, ochre on bark, etching, carvings.

Artists Statement
           
I love my painting, I love doing it. My husband, Declan Apuatimi taught me to paint. The designs are ones he taught  me - he said  ‘One day you will be an artist - you will take my place.’  Now I am doing that.   Painting makes me alive.

Solo Exhibitions

Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Seva Frangos Gallery, Perth, 18 May – 7 June 2008
Ngiya amintiya nginaringa, ngiya ngamaringa, (mother and daughter- Jean Baptiste Apuatimi and Maria Josette Orsto), Aboriginal and Pacific Art Gallery, 2 Danks St, Waterloo, 26 April – 17 May 2008.
Ngiya Yirtanga Pulukatu, (my name is female buffalo), Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra, 12 October-10 November 2007
Makatingari, (It sounds like running water) Aboriginal and Pacific Art Gallery, Sydney, 11 February- 4 March 2006.
Mirripaka (Salty Water) Raft Art Space, Darwin, 4 March-26 March 2005
Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, 10 June- 3 July 2004.
Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, 2003
Wangatunga jilamara, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra, 1-23 November 2002
Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, 13 June- 6 July 2002          
Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Aboriginal and Pacific Art Gallery, Sydney, 6-29 July 2001.
Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2001
Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney, 13 June- 6 July 2000
Paparluwi Jilamara, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 10 July- 4 August 1999.

Selected Group Exhibitions

Jilamara Milikapiti, Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne, November 1991
Ngingingawula Jilamara kapi Purunguparri: Our Designs on Bark, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne,
12 September-2 November 1992
The Body Tiwi: Aboriginal Art from Bathurst and Melville Islands, The University Gallery, University of Tasmania, Launceston, 9-30 September 1993.
Nginingawaluwla Tiwi Jilamara (All our Designs: Silk-screening, Printmaking, Painting, Etching, Batik, Stoneware, Pottery and Carvings), Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 4-21 November 1993.
Power of the Land: Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 13 October -5 December 1994.
Art of the Tiwi from the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Shepparton Art Gallery, Victoria, 14 July-24 August 1994;Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 22 September-6 November 1994; Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria, 9 December 1994-22January 1995; Tandanya, Adelaide, 2 February-19 March 1995.
The Fourth National Indigenous Heritage Art Award - The Art of Place, Old Parliament House, Canberra, 1998.
15th Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin,19 September-21 November 1998.
16th Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin,1999.
Arukulunga Wunitaka Thelma, (Big Wind Thelma), Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, 5 August-18 September 1999.
Ngawayati, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney, 1999.
Nginingawula Tiwi Turtiyangini, Framed Gallery, Darwin, 1999.
Papaluwi Jilamara, works by Jean Baptiste Apuatimi and daughters Marie Josette Orsto and Carmelina
Puantulura, Fremantle Art Centre, Fremantle, 2000.
Tiwi Dreaming,Taos, New Mexico, USA, 2000
Tiwi 2000, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT, 2000
17th Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the NorthernTerritory, Darwin, 30 September-26 November 2000.    
Western Australian Art Fare, Fremantle Passenger Terminal, Perth, 2000.
Across the Clarence Strait – Art of the Tiwi, Ancient Earth Indigenous Art, Cairns, QLD, 2001.
Islands in the Sun, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT, 2001.
Taykwapi Tiwi, Raft Artspace, Darwin, 9 November- 30 November, 2001
Kiripuranji: Clever with our Hands: Contemporary Art from the Tiwi Islands, Artbank collection international touring exhibition- South Pacific, South East Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Latin America, 22 July 2002-5 August 2006.
19th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 10 August-27 October 2002.
Wangatunga Jilamara, paintings and carvings by Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Marie Josette Orsto, Carmelina Puantulura, Natalie Puantulura, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra ACT, 1-23 November, 2002.
Tandanya Gallery, Adelaide SA, 2002/2003
Wangatunga Jilamara Raft Art Space, Darwin, 17 October- 1 November, 2003.
Tiwi Art network, Aboriginal and Oceanic Art Fair, Sydney, 17- 20 November 2005.
Right here, right now: recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander acquisitions, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2006.
22nd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Art Gallery and Museum of the Northern Territory, Darwin 12 August-23 November 2005.
Kirripapurajuwi Nginga Ngawula Jilimara, Raft Art Space, Darwin, 21 April- 13 May, 2006.
23rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Art Gallery and Museum of the Northern Territory, 2006.
Dreaming Their Way: Australian Aboriginal Women Painters, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, USA, 30 June-24 September 2006; Hood Museum of Art Hanover, USA, 7 October-10 December 2006.
Yirrajirrima murrakupuni ngawurraningimarri (Three places coming together) Tiwi Art Network, Telstra Award
Exhibition, Shop 1/13 Smith Street Mall, Darwin, 11 August- 16 August 2006.
Big Country, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs 18 August- 15 October 2006.
All the Tiwi Mob, Short St Gallery, Broome, 23 September- 28 October, 2006.
In the World: head, hand, heart,17thTamworth Fibre Textile Biennale, Tamworth Regional Gallery, 9 September-5 November 2006, Artspace Mackay, Mackay Queensland, 18 March-29 April 2007, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, Victoria, 13 July – 19 August 2007, Mosman Gallery, Mosman, 2 September-14 October 2007, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Surfers Paradise, 8 December – 10 February 2008, Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, Adelaide, 20 June – 3 August 2008, Swan Hill Regional Gallery, Swan Hill, 29 August- 12 October 2008, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, 31 October- 14 December 2008.
Freestyle New Australian Design for Living, Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, 5 October- 4 February, 2006, Object Gallery,Sydney, 10 March- 13 May 2007, touring nationally and internationally.
Indigenous Memento of Australia, Brisbane, August 2006.
Culture Warriors, National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 13 October- 8 February,2007, Art Gallery South Australia, Adelaide, 20 June – 31 August 2008, Art Gallery of Western  Australia, Perth 20 September – 23 November 2008, Art Gallery Queensland/ Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, March-May 2009.
Australian Print Workshop exhibition of Australian Printmakers at Australian Embassy of Washington, Nov-Dec 2007, Washington, USA
New Works from Tiwi Design (bronze and paper ) Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra, 2 – 31 May 2008
New Etchings and Lithographs by Jean Baptiste Apuatimi and Maria Josette Orsto, Nomad Gallery, Darwin July2008

MAJOR COLLECTIONS

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Artbank, Sydney
Batchelor College, Northern Territory
Charles Darwin University, Darwin
IAN Berndt Private collection
Kelton Foundation, California, USA
Kluge-Ruhe collection USA
Macquarie Bank Collection, Sydney
Monash University, Perth
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Museum Victoria, Melbourne
National Australia Bank, Sydney
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra    
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, USA
Parliament House, Canberra
Sammlung Essl Museum, Austria
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle,USA
Wesfarmers Collection

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Art of the Tiwi, The Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1994
Bennett,J. `Ngingingawala Jilamara kapi purunguparri (Our Bark Paintings), Gallery Monthly Magazine of National Gallery Society of Victoria, September 1992.
Bennett, J. `Narrative and decoration in Tiwi Painting: Tiwi representations of Purukuparli Story.’ Art Bulletin of Victoria no. 33, Melbourne, 1992, pp 39-47.
Clark,D. & Jenkins, S. (eds) Culture Warriors, National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, exhibition publication, 2007.
Nicholson, E. & Price, R. Dreaming their Way, Australian Aboriginal Women Painters, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Scala Publishers, London, 2006.
Parkes, B. Freestyle New Australian Design for Living, Object Gallery,Sydney 2006.
Perkins,H. & West,M.(eds) One Sun One Moon, Aboriginal Art in Australia. Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, 2007.
The Body Tiwi: Aboriginal Art from Bathurst and Melville Islands, exhibition catalogue, The University Gallery, University of Tasmania, Launceston, 1993.
Thwaite, V. (ed) In the World: head, hand, heart 17th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial, Tamworth Regional Gallery, exhibition catalogue 2006.