Alick Tipoti

Alick Tipoti, born 1975, is a world renowned professional artist from Badu (Mulgrave Island) in the Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait). Tipoti works across a variety of disciplines including printmaking, sculpture, painting, dance and performance. In his work, legendary ancestral heroes appear alongside weapons of war, dhari headdresses, masks, drums and other important cultural material objects. More broadly, Tipoti's work communicates the ancestral narratives of his people, and draws on the vibrant ceremonial life of his Islander culture and events from the past. He is one of the last generations to speak the language Kala Lagaw Ya fluently and Alick is actively involved in programs concerning the preservation of Torres Strait Islander cultral knowledge and languages.

Tipoti completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Printmaking) at the Australian National University, Canberra in 1998 and has since established himself as a leading contemporary Australian artist. He has an impressive exhibition history including performing the 'Marimawa' (spiritual mask dance) at the British Museum, London in 2015, participating in 'UnDisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial', National Gallery of Australia (2012) and the 18th Biennale of Sydney, 'All our Relations', Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2012). In September 2016 he created the largest artwork ever made by a Torres Strait Islander on the roof of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco for the exhibition 'Taba Naba - Australia, Oceania, Arts of the Sea People'. This exhibition travelled to Switzerland in September 2017.

Tipoti's work is held in significant Australian and international collections inclding the British Museum, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia USA, the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and the New Zealand Parliament House art collection.

For more information, head to: http://www.alicktipoti.com/