Description

Jock Puaitiamiri

Jock Puautjimi (b. 1962) is a highly regarded Tiwi artist known for his diverse talents as a ceramicist, painter, wood carver, and designer of screen-printed textiles since leaving school in 1979. His Tiwi name, Pulawurrumayini, translates to ‘mullet,’ and he belongs to the Wantarringa skin group, symbolizing the sun. Jock’s cultural roots are deeply tied to his family’s lands: his mother’s country is Pularumpi on Melville Island, while his father’s country is Port Hurd on Bathurst Island.

He holds certificates in ceramics from the Darwin Institute of Technology (1984) and Nepean Technical School in New South Wales (1983). In 1993, he served as a ceramics instructor at Kormilda College in Darwin and was also an Artist in Residence at Batchelor College that same year.

Jock has exhibited his pottery, prints, and paintings extensively across Australia, as well as in the USA and the UK. Notably, he held a solo exhibition titled “Shades of Ochre” in Darwin in 1990, becoming one of only two Tiwi men to achieve this distinction. His artwork is part of esteemed collections at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of South Australia, Flinders University Art Museum, and the National Gallery of Australia.