Kieren Karritpul (b. 1994) is a Ngen'giwumirri artist who lives in the small community of Nauiyu / Daly River south-west of Darwin.

As a Ngen'giwumirri man, Karritpul is not permitted to weave, instead he paints magnified views of woven objects and fibres.

In Making the Ancestors Smile, Karritpul explores his relationship to his culture and the land around him. He speaks of being woven into the land, the place his ancestors have lived for generations. Karritpul uses the metaphor of the woven surface to speak of the breathing land and its importance to Indigenous identity and ongoing culture.

Kieren Karritpul's awards include the inaugural NIFA Textile Design Award (2020) and the inaugural Telstra NATISAA Youth Award (2014) for his stunning length of silk-screen printed fabric, Yerrgi, a ground-breaking moment for textile design.

His works are in the collections of National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory; Museum of Applied Arts and Social Sciences, Sydney; Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra; Artbank, The Fowler Collection, Fowler Museum, University of California, USA; and the Museum of Cultural History in Norway.

This is his first exhibition at Tolarno Galleries.

Press release courtesy Tolarno Galleries.