Clarise Tunkin / Minyma Malilu (19861)

Born in 1993 in Alice Springs hospital, Clarise Tunkin is a Pitjantjatjara artist from a highly recognised family of artists. Her great-grandfather was Jimmy Baker (c.1915-2010) a foundation artist at Kanpi where his family were the traditional owners for the outstation and its lands. Clarise’s grandmother Kay Baker and mother Teresa Baker have continued the very strong artistic tradition of the family.

Clarise rose to prominence in 2015 when her painting Minma Marlimu was selected as a finalist in the Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award which is held each year at the Art Gallery and Museum of Northern Territory in Darwin.

Clarise remembers visiting Malilu’s Cave with Teresa Baker at age fifteen, learning from her mother about country and the sacred stories associated with it just as Teresa learnt from her mother.

Clarise now divides her time between her home in Kanpi and Alice Springs. Clarise is proud of her heritage and travels back home to take part in traditional women’s business there.

Like her mother and grandmother before her, Clarise’s works are highly sort after and cements her reputation as a rising talent in the Indigenous art sector.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
• 2018 Clarise Tunkin Exhibition – A Magnificent APY Lands Artist, Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery, Alphington, VIC

Selected Group Exhibitions
• 2023 Anangu Women Artists – My True Story, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
• 2023 Celebrating Country | Women Artists of Art Mob, Art Mob, Hobart
• 2023 Central Desert Showcase, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2020 Anangu Artists – We carry story in our hearts, Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2019 International Women’s Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2019 Women’s Show, Yaama ganu, Moree, NSW
• 2019 Landscape Colours, Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2018 Baker Family Exhibition, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2017 PALYA: NYAPARI NOW, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
• 2016 Family Ties: The Next Generation, Outstation Gallery, Darwin
• 2016 Good Together, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA

Awards and Recognition
• 2023 National Capital Art Prize, Canberra – Finalist
• 2016 33rd NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist – collaborative piece with Teresa Baker
• 2015 32nd NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist

Collections
• Monash University Collection, Melbourne

This is the country for Malilu. She is a creation being from the Dreamtime. Malilu is sitting with her digging stick and collecting bowl. She has been dancing, performing important ceremonial dancing for this country and she has left her dancing tracks behind the sand. Malilu was a crippled woman and her two daughters had run off to get married, leaving her to fend for herself. It was very hard for her to collect bush foods and water because she had to drag her legs as she walked. Through much effort she collected desert raisins, bush tomatoes, berries and many different kinds of wild foods.