Printing Knowledge and Preserving Tradition: Printmaking on the Tiwi Islands

dc.contributor.authorVanags, Maija
dc.date.accessioned2019-04-08T23:50:38Z
dc.date.available2019-04-08T23:50:38Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description.abstractMy research examines silk screen printing on the Tiwi Islands and the significant role textiles play as carriers of values connecting people across time and maintaining important cultural knowledge. Silk screen printing is an introduced technique that flourished on the islands in the late twentieth century. My aim is to show how the Tiwi have retained their identity while engaging in a non-traditional form of artistic expression. I argue that the silk screen print designs produced on the islands express a relationship to the land, ancestors and cultural artefacts. Early print designs produced in the 1970s by Tiwi men at the Tiwi Design workshop depict images relating to cultural artefacts, myth and ceremony. Later designs produced by the women in the 1980s are predominantly images connected to the environment. Still later images produced in the 1990s by an older generation of artists revert back to the traditional markings using lines and dots. My thesis shows how visual markings are produced in a new context and for new uses. I explore the print designs produced by the Tiwi in the twentieth century as a type of meta-media, that is, an expressive form of thought showing a relationship to land, ancestors and culture. The designs printed by the Tiwi on fabric are a means by which the old is linked to the new and cultural identity is reinforced during a time of great change. The designs show how tradition has been transformed to meet new circumstances.en_AU
dc.identifier.otherb59286325
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/159363
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.subjectsilk screen printingen_AU
dc.subjectTiwi Islandsen_AU
dc.subjectrole textiles play as carriers of valuesen_AU
dc.subjectconnecting people across timeen_AU
dc.subjectmaintaining important cultural knowledgeen_AU
dc.subjectlanden_AU
dc.subjectancestorsen_AU
dc.subjectcultural artefactsen_AU
dc.titlePrinting Knowledge and Preserving Tradition: Printmaking on the Tiwi Islandsen_AU
dc.typeThesis (MPhil)en_AU
dcterms.valid2019en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationSchool of Archaeology and Anthropology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National Universityen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailmaijavanags@yahoo.com.auen_AU
local.contributor.supervisorMorphy, Howard
local.contributor.supervisorcontactHoward.Morphy@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.description.notesthe author deposited 9/04/2019en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.25911/5cac750a1f9f0
local.mintdoiminten_AU
local.type.degreeMaster of Philosophy (MPhil)en_AU

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