Historical information

Bede TANGUTALUM (1952- )
Wurrumiyanga (Nguiu), Bathurst Island
Tiwi People

Bede Tungutalum works across a range of media, including carved and painted wooden sculpture,printmaking and painting. Tungutalum learned carving from his father, the well-known sculptor Gabriel Tungutalum, and was taught how to cut woodblocks for printing while attending Xavier Boys School at Nguiu. He refined and developed these techniques in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His earliest prints date from the late 1960s.

In 1969, with fellow Tiwi artist Giovanni Tipungwuti, Bede Tungutalum established Tiwi Design, an art centre dedicated to the production of hand-printed fabrics featuring traditional Indigenous designs.

Physical description

Framed lithograph depicting yams, printed in colour inks, from multiple stones