PADDY HENRY TEEAMPI RIPIJINGIMPI, Purrukupali and Tokwampini, c.1965

PADDY HENRY TEEAMPI RIPIJINGIMPI Tiwi language, c.1925 - 1999 Purrukupali and Tokwampini, c.1965 ochre on Ironwood 135h x 19w x 14d cm (irregular) PROVENANCE Milikapiti, Melville Island, Northern Territory Private Collection, Victoria Paddy Henry (Teeampi) Ripijingimpi was a Tiwi sculptor based at Milikapiti, on the north coast of Melville Island in the Northern Territory. He belonged to the generation of carvers who established the modern reputation of Tiwi sculpture, working in ironwood and other hardwoods within the tradition of tutini, the grave markers made for the Pukumani mourning ceremony that lies at the centre of Tiwi funerary life. This carving takes the tiered figurative form associated with that tradition. Tokwampini, the white pelican, stands atop the figure of Purukuparli, the major ancestral being of Tiwi cosmology. In the Dreaming, Tokwampini brought Purukuparli word that his son had died, and it was this loss that led Purukuparli to decree that death would from then on be the fate of all Tiwi people, the founding narrative behind the Pukumani ceremony itself. © PADDY HENRY TEEAMPI RIPIJINGIMPI / Copyright Agency, 2026

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