Curatorial insightIn this painting Tutuulum continued to extend his earlier use of figurative idioms and hand-painted Tiwi design elements. The figures are a narrative rendition of a traditional story of warfare between ancestral inhabitants of Bathurst Island, the artist’s home. The island's art traditions are substantially non-figurative; however nearly two decades' experience as a screen printer enabled the artist to develop a distinctive figurative approach. In the two years prior to the purchase of this piece, Tutuulum had increasingly turned to direct painting, with iconic central figures - fish and other animals - dominating the canvas. (Croft, Indigenous Art: Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2001)