Timothy Akis

Country/Region: Papua New Guinea (view other artists)

Village: Tsembaga Village, Madang Province

biography by Pamela Rosi

Timothy Akis (known as Akis) has the distinction of being Papua New Guinea's first exhibiting artist. He was born about 1944 in Tsembaga village in the remote Simbai valley of Madang Province. As a young man, while working as an interpreter for visiting anthropologist Georgeda Buchbinder, he began to identify local plants and animals by making small drawings. Impressed by this creativity, Buchbinder brought Akis to Port Moresby and introduced him to Australian artist Georgina Beier. She invited him to work in her studio and encouraged him to create images drawn from his imagination. Akis delighted in letting his hand flow spontaneously, and he quickly developed a lively repertoire of cassowaries, lizards, and other creatures inspired by the wild life of his mountain home. Six weeks later, he held his first exhibition at the University of Papua New Guinea.

From 1969 until his premature death in 1984, Akis exhibited his work regularly at the National Arts School and it was also shown abroad in the USA, Great Britain, the Philippines, and Switzerland. Akis's earliest images are lively black and white drawings and limited print editions were made of this work. However, as his work developed, he also became interested in color and began to tell "stories" about his increasingly elaborate imagery.

Akis's work has continued to be exhibited posthumously. In 1989, drawings from the Hugh Stevenson collection toured the Pacific in the Exhibition "Luk Luk Gen"; in 2001, his work was included in an exhibition of prints by leading indigenous artists from Australia and the South Pacific entitled "Islands in the Sun" at the National Gallery of Australia; and in 1990 several original drawings and prints were included in the exhibition "Mak Bilong Ol" shown at the University of Nijmegen and other venues in The Netherlands.


Solo Exhibitions

1969- University of Papua New Guinea, drawings
1971- University of Papua New Guinea, drawings
1973- University of Papua New Guinea, Drawings of Akis of Tsembaga
Goroka Teachers' College, drawings
1974- Papua New Guinea House, Canberra, drawings
1975- National Arts School Gallery, Ting Ting Bilong Mi, screenprints
1981- National Arts School, drawings and prints
1985- National Arts School, posthumous retrospective

Group Exhibitions

1969- Alladin Gallery, Sydney, drawings
1970- University of Sussex, U.K., drawings;
University of the South Pacific, Fiji, drawings;
Otis Gallery, Los Angeles, U.S.A., Contemporary New Guinea Art
1971- Solidaridad Gallery, Manila, drawings
1973- Travelling Exhibition, Melbourne University,
Adelaide University, Australian University, Adelaide University, Australian National University Canberra, Sydney University: Wok bilong Niugini Tude, screenprints; University of Papua New Guinea, Third Niugini Arts Festival Exhibition, drawings
1976- Print Council of Australia, Western Pacific Biennale, screenprints
1980- National Arts School, screenprints

Posthumous Exhibition

1988- Australian Museum, Sydney, included in Pieces of Paradise

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