Context (CMS Context)
Biography of the artist as recorded on the certificate of provenance accompanying the print:
"Born in 1961 at Milikapiti on Melville Island, Brian's country is Pickataramoor, his skin group Pandanus and his dreaming dance the Seagull.
Brian went to school in Darwin & lived in central Australia doing a teacher's course in the 1980s. He was Teacher's aide at Milikapti school in the1980s. In 1981 he participated in the Kulama ceremony held at Milikapiti. Old man (his relation) held the last Kulama but Brian was in hospital. "Sometimes there is a story that I follow through to keep the memories alive. Like a journey of growing up going through all the stages to manhood -initiations."

Brian would have painted for ceremony but not commercially until 2004 when he joined Jilamara. His body design is an abstract design which is literally translated from ceremony, but also represents a person's journey through life. His art has a sensitive feel, his mark making light and airy.
Brian represents the Tiwi people as one of the many Indigenous Directors with ANKAAA. His [sic] plays an important role for Tiwi culture giving & receiving information within the arts."
Event Date 14/8/2012
Author: Remke van der Velden

Description (CMS Description)
Print description as recorded on the certificate of provenance accompanying the print: "All jilamara (design) is originally drawn from the body painting which accompanied the pukumani (funeral) and kulama (initiation/yam) ceremonies. All the artists living at Milikapiti are drawing on collective Tiwi memory, and the individual expression and aesthetic qualities of each artist's work is reflective of their personal interpretation of traditional Tiwi design or jilamara."
Event Date 14/8/2012
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
Presented by The Art Fund and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. An acquisition project to build a collection of modern and contemporary work on paper from Australia, Canada and South Africa was undertaken over 2011-13 with the support of a grant under The Art Fund's RENEW programme. The collection was developed with the expert advice and generous assistance of Annie Coombes and Norman Vorano in relation to South African and Inuit artists respectively. Khadija Carroll, Anita Herle and Diana Wood Conroy also contributed to the selection process. A certificate of provenance is available for this print.
According to the certificate of provenance:
Print Number: 09/35-11/20
The collaborator on this print is Leon Stainer, Nena Zanos the printer, and Jilamara/Northern Editions the publisher.
Paper Type: BFK Rives 76 x 56 cm Edition date: 07/07/2009
Edition size: 20. Purchased via Northern Editions Printmaking Studio & Gallery. Gallery Address:
Charles Darwin University, Building Orange 9
Darwin NT 0909 - Australia
P:+61 (0)889466325
F:+61 (0)889466599
E:northern.editions@cdu.edu.au
www.northerneditions.com.au
Shipped to UK on 27/3/2012.
Event Date 14/8/2012
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Print titled 'Jilamara'.
Edition no.11/20. Printing of an etching on paper. The image is divided in 13 vertical strips. The outermost strip on ether side consists of a triangular pattern interchangeably of dark and light brown triangles each with a light brown dot in it, separated by white lines. All subsequent strips are also separated by vertical white lines. The remaining strip consist of three designs which are alternated; six strips of dark and light brown squares, each square with a light brown cross in it; three strips of dark brown diamonds, each diamond has two light brown dots and two or three stripes in it; 2 strips of dark brown triangles, each triangle separated by a white line and with a light brown dot in it. 'B Farmer' is written in the right hand bottom corner in pencil and '11/20' is written in pencil in the left bottom corner. The watermark 'B F K Rives france 3' followed by an infinity symbol is visible in the let hand bottom corner, a watermark of a wind direction 'compass' with 'Northern Editions' written around it can be seen in the bottom right hand corner. Condition; very good.




Event Date 14/8/2012
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
In 1969 one of the first art centres in any remote Australian Aboriginal community was established on Bathurst Island, one of the Tiwi Islands to the north of Darwin. Artists were trained in design, pottery and printmaking and artists from throughout the Tiwi group have been consistently acclaimed over the four decades since.

Brian Farmer was involved in painting for ceremony from the 1980s onward but only began working commercially as an artist in 2004. He is one of a group from Melville Island working with jilamara designs, painted on the body for initiation, fertility, and mortuary ceremonies. While all work from the shared tradition, each artist's interpretation is personal, and Farmer's are at a remove from the customary referents, dynamic yet light and engaging. This work is a strong representation of the undiminished talent of Tiwi printmakers.
[Taken from the application to the Renew scheme in the case for acquisition]

Event Date 17/1/2017
Author: Rachel Hand

Conservation (Assessment Only)
CON.2017.3703 | Assessment Only
Event Date 24/1/2017
Author: Rachel Howie

Loan (Exhibition)
Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, 01/04/2017 to 31/01/2018, The Arts of Aboriginal Australia (provisional title)
Event Date 1/4/2017
Author: Remke Velden