Pedro Wonaeamirri

Mordant Family Blak C.O.R.E. Fellow October 2024.

Alcaston Gallery will present Pedro Wonaeamirri‘s exhibition Ngiya Purrungbarri – My Bark from 18 September to 11 October 2024.

Pedro Dennis Wonaeamirri was born in 1974 at Pirlangimpi on Melville Island. His country is Goose Creek, Melville Island, his skin group Mulipurrula (White Cockatoo) and dance Jilarti (Brolga). A member of Jilamara Arts & Crafts Association since 1991, he lives and works at Milikapiti on Melville Island. 

Wonaeamirri works across various mediums including natural ochres on paper, linen and bark, print-making and carving. He was taught to carve by his uncle, the renowned Tiwi artist Romuald Puruntatameri, and developed his distinct painting style by watching and learning from the elder artists at Jilamara, such as Kitty Kantilla and Paddy Freddy Puruntatameri. Using natural ochres collected from around Milikapiti and a kayimwagakimi (traditional Tiwi painting comb), Wonaeamirri works within the strong Tiwi practice of pwoja (body designs) to continue and celebrate Tiwi tradition and culture. 

Pedro’s contemporary art practice has its foundations in Jilamara – “design” derived from ceremonial body painting and the ornate decoration applied to tutini poles, tunga (bark baskets) and associated ritual objects made for Pukumani (mourning) ceremony and Tiwi Yoi (dance).

Most recently, in 2021, Pedro Wonaeamirri participated in a major exhibition entitled TIWI,at the 38th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). 

Wonaeamirri’s work has been collected by major institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney and the Commonwealth Institute, London. 

In 2020, Pedro Wonaeamirri and Patrick Freddy Puruntatameri were selected to participate in the prestigious Biennale of Sydney, exhibiting a major installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.