Kieren Karritpul

Karritpul is a Ngen’giwumirri man who lives and works in the remote community of Nauiyu/Daly River, 230km south of Darwin. 

He comes from a family of master weavers and artists and has been making art since he was 15 years old. 

“I paint at home on the floor, either inside or out on the verandah,” says Karritpul. “My uncle used to tell me, ‘You have to sit on the floor so the ancestors can watch from above and guide you as you work.’”

Growing up in Nauiyu, Karritpul would often observe his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother as they made dilly bags and fish nets.

In Daly River artist Kieren Karritpul’s art there is no escaping the woven lines of inspiration. The woven form is both subject and metaphor in his work, and also to some extent part of their process. In his first solo exhibition, Karritpul, the titles of his paintings, prints and textile-based work all indicated a particular woven form including the yerggi which is actually a pre-woven form, yerrgi being the Daly River word (Ngan’gikurrungurr language) for the ubiquitous pandanus plant, the Screw Palm, Pandanus spiralis which together with the Sand Palm (merrepen, Livistona humilis) are the main sources of fibre for Top End weavers.

Maurice O’Riordan, Director, Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, 2015 (Woven Lines catalogue essay excerpts)