Linus Warlapinni was a much loved & respected artist of Jilamara Arts who passed away in 2016.
Linus worked with the Conservation Commission for many years in parks and wildlife. On his retirement from the Commission he became a plant operator with the Tiwi Regional Council building roads and airstrips on Melville Island. When he needed to spend more time caring for his family he decided to draw on his family ties and began painting for Jilamara Arts and Craft Association in 2002.
Linus is the son of the late leading Jilamara artist Freda Warlapinni (c 1928-2003). Like his mother’s painting Linus’ designs are directly related to ceremonial body painting and when asked if his work is influenced by watching his mother, he said “I do the same”, meaning they are of the same family, the same ceremony, for the same purpose. “My painting like kulama & pukumani (ceremony), when we go for dance I paint lines on my face”. “The old people” taught him design at Milikapiti through ceremonial body painting. Linus’ totem, or dreaming was the Turtle Dance, and Linus believed people could recognize from his design that his dance was the Turtle Dance.
