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Overview
Timothy Akis was born in Tsembaga Village, Simbai, Madang Province. He worked as a translator and interpreter, making sketches of Indigenous plants, animals and local shield designs to assist in this work. "My work as an artist is in me and I like to do all kinds of things in my drawing," he said.
Akis’ first exhibition was held at the University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby in 1969. Bob Browne, a lecturer at the Creative Arts Centre and Akis’ friend, said: "[Akis] never seemed to hesitate between drawings to consider how to start the next one – it was as if all the drawings were complete in his head – as if he could see them complete on the paper and only had to ink them…" Akis’ artworks draw from and extend customary patterns and stories, giving them new expression.
In this artwork, Akis records a meeting between the New Zealand High Commissioner and the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Michael Somare. The two figures are dressed in bilas, or body decoration, with a lizard between them.
References:
Timothy Akis, artist’s statement in Luk Luk gen! Look Again!: Contemporary Art from Papua New Guinea, Perc Tucker Reginal Gallery, 1990, p.70.
Bob Browne, quoted in Luk Luk gen! Look Again!: Contemporary Art from Papua New Guinea, Perc Tucker Reginal Gallery, 1990, p.49.