Artist
Timothy Cook

Born in 1958 on Melville Island, off the coast of Darwin, NT, celebrated Tiwi artist Timothy Cook has developed his practice for over thirty years, creating paintings, prints and carvings at Jilamara Arts and Craft in Milikapiti since the late 1990s.
Cook draws inspiration from parlingarri jilamara, or ancestral designs, passed down through generations. These intricate motifs, a fusion of kurluwukari (circles), pwanga (dots), and marlipinyini (lines), reflect the complex visual language of the Tiwi people.
For many years, Cook has focused his attention on the kulama, a sacred symbol of the Tiwi initiation ceremony. Held during the yam harvest, under the light of Japarra (moon), the ceremony is performed late in the wet season when a ring appears around Japarra. Elders of both sexes sing and dance for three days, welcoming children into adulthood. The circles in his work symbolize the moon, yam and ritual circles of the kulama ceremony, the pwanga (dots) reflect the japalinga (stars).
Cook's work, painted exclusively with locally sourced ochres has been acquired by major international and Australian public institutions and private collectors. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions including at the 12th Adelaide Biennale, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; 7th Australia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; and Musée de Quai Branly, Paris, France. He has won several prestigious awards, including the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards; the Hadley Art Award; the Wynne Prize and the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; and the Australia Council National Arts & Disability Award for an established artist.