MICHELLE PULATUWAYU WOODY MINNAPINNI
AustraliaMichelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni is a Tiwi artist from Milikapiti, a small community situated on Melville Island, located off the northern coast of Australia’s Northern Territory. Rooted in the long-standing practices of her ancestors, her work expresses important Tiwi creation stories and representations of Murrakupupuni (Country) using jilamara/designs. She sources natural pigments from sacred locations on Murrakupupuni, which she then grinds and hand mixes. While typically used in Tiwi body painting for ceremony, Woody uses the pwoja (ironwood comb) to create contemporary representations of her homeland in striking bands of white, yellow, and red. In addition to her painting practice, she also works in the weaving and making of Tiwi ceremonial ornaments like the marriwiyi/ceremonial pandanus skirt.
Michelle holds a Diploma in Conservation at the Grimwade Centre at the University of Melbourne and is an alumna of the Wesfarmers Indigenous Leadership Program at the National Gallery of Australia. She was the recipient of Creative Australia’s residency at Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia (2026). She was awarded the King Wood Malleson Contemporary Indigenous Art Award (2020) and was highly commended for the Summer Salon at Collins Place Gallery, Melbourne (2018). She has held key governance roles including President of Jilamara (2020-2022); Director on the Association of Northern, Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists Board, and she is the current co-ordinator of the Muluwurri Museum.
Michelle has exhibited both solo and group shows across Australia and internationally, with significant exhibitions including her recent solo Ngiya Murrakupupuni amintiya Jilamara (My Country and Art), Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, United States (2026); Awakening Histories, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth (2026); Parlingarri Amintiya Ningani Awungarra: Old and New at Jilamara Arts, UNSW Galleries, Sydney (2025); In Relation, Agency Projects, Melbourne (2024); The National 4: Australian Art Now, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2023); YOYI: Care, Repair, Heal, Gropius Bau, Berlin (2022); and TIWI, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2020).
Her works are represented in national and international public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Artbank; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; and Kluge-Ruhe Art Museum, Virginia, United States.
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