Jean Baptiste Apuatimi

Born: 1940
Region: Melville Island
Skin Group: Tapatapunga (March Fly)

Jean Baptiste Apuatimi is a senior Tiwi Island artist who recreates and interprets body painting designs used in Tiwi Ceremony. “I love my painting, I love doing it. My husband, Declan Apuatimi taught me to paint. The designs are ones he taught me. He said ‘One day you will be an artist, you will take my place.’ Now I am doing that. Painting makes me alive.”