Gifts for the dead : a stylistic analysis of Tiwi graveposts illuminated by a case study of their manufacture
Creators: name: Hoff, Jennifer
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 1988
Subjects: subject: Tiwi (Australian people) Funeral customs and rites
subject: Graveposts Australia Northern Territory

description: Introduction - an outline of deficiencies in previous research, scholarly and popular interest in the Tiwi people and their funeral ceremonies; my reasons for attempting the project. The theoretical context for this research and methodologies for the stylistic analysis and fieldwork project are outlined. Difficulties in completing the project are reviewed together with a summary of the major fieldwork commission which narrowed the focus of research. The setting - an historical survey of Bathurst and Melville Islands comprising the formation of landforms, the arrival of the first people and their relations with indigenous species. The death of the ancestral leader Purukupali is recounted and his instructions which have formed the basis for Tiwi funeral ceremonies. The influence of contact with outsiders - Portugese, Dutch, Indonesians, etc. - is recorded as well as British contact beginning with the settlement of Ford Dundas. Changes brought about by occupation of the islands by buffalo shooters and the establishment of the Bathurst Island Mission are outlined. Hostility between the Tiwi and adjacent mainland Aborigines is described also. Graveposts as ceremonial markers - descriptions by the first field researchers - Klaatsch, Basedow, Spencer - are compared with findings by Mountford and Goodale of the National Geographic Expedition in 1954. This chapter concludes with descriptions of earlier ceremonies given to me by contemporary carvers and of events at a pukumani (funeral) ceremony for Nelson Mungatopi's uncle in 1986. Classification of sculptural elements - major and minor features from a core sample of fifty eight graveposts plus additional examples are identified and classified with a summary of significant findings. Classification of painted motifs - a systemic grouping of painted elements comprising the use of materials, distribution of design elements, technical processes and the skills of Tiwi artists, together with a summary of their incidence and temporal distribution. Conception and design - differing levels of ability among artists, how they acquire their skills and forms of training. Sources for ideas are surveyed along with motivating factors, value judgments and the rights of commissioning families, conceptual preparation and the stages of manufacture for tutinis (graveposts). VGenerative processes - Purukupali's instructions to tutini carvers are reviewed along with seasonal influences, the selection of materials, acceptable work methods and conventional stages for a ritual commission (scorching techniques, obtaining pigments, the use of fixatives, etc.)* This chapter concludes with a detailed comparison of preparations for a pukumani ceremony by the carvers Paddy Freddy and Holder Adams. Aesthetic criteria and assessment - artists' responses to the requirements of a commission are described as well as the resulting evaluation of graveposts by bereaved relatives or patrons. The significance of the contract for all parties including the 'bosses' and 'workers' is reviewed. Criteria for acceptability and criteria for excellence are factors regarded by artists as indicators of the level of positive response and payment for commissioned graveposts. Included in this classification is a discussion of the limits of acceptable innovation in tutini carving. Meanings and symbolism - graveposts as symbolic human images and examples of innovation including small carved human figures. Meanings for carved motifs and the symbolism of painted patterns are outlined, and comparisons made between scarification designs and painted elements. Categories of painted patterns, including pukumani designs, are assessed in terms of their context and symbolism. Conclusion - a review of stylistic evolution in graveposts, major determining factors of style, and the role of artists as innovators and exponents of traditional ideas. Evidence of stylistic variation during successive historic periods is summarised and important traits compared with painting styles of the Yolngu (Aborigines) in Arnhem Land. The study ends with comments by Tiwi artists on the future of tutini carving.