Maria Josette Orsto

Born: 29 October 1962 Died 30 November 2020

Father's Country: Imalu Point, Melville Island

Skin Group: March Fly

Dreaming: Trick Dance

Maria Josette’s parents are the famed artists Jean Baptiste Apuatimi (1940-2013) and Declan Apuatimi (1930-1985) and she was born at Pirlungamipi on Melville Island, Tiwi.

Maria learned from her father at a very early age how to carve and paint. Her distinctive art practice includes encompasses ochre and acryulic on canvas/linen and paper, printmaking, wood sculpture and batik.

She became the first female artist of Munupi Art & Craft association in Pirlangimpi and the first female member of Tiwi Design on Bathurst Island and the first to have a solo exhibition.

With her husband, Greg Orsto,a renowned carver, Maria Josette was instrumental to the expansion and greater international exposure of Tiwi art.

Maria Josette works shows contemporary design interpretations connecting family to Tiwi cosmology, cultural practices and country. Like her mother, Jean Baptiste Apuatime, Maria Josette painted Jilimara, the Tiwi word depicting “design” broadly describes both the action of painting and the intricate geometric patterns traditionally drawn on the body during ceremonies.

Maria Josette exhibited extensively from 1990 including several solo exhibitions and major group exhibitions, such as Tiwi Prints - A Commemorative Exhibition 1969 - 1997 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney in 1997.

Josette was commissioned by Australia Post to design the artwork for prepaid envelopes in 1997 and 1999.

The 2012 Darwin Festival showcased an exhibition titled Maternal Lines by Jean Baptiste and Maria Josette Orsto.

The following is credited to Keith Munro, Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney.

Much of Orsto’s painting practice, and that of many Tiwi artists, centres on the use of the pwoja comb. This traditional painting comb is made by carving ridged lines along the flake of a reworked piece of ironwood that has been cut during the creation of a tutini (funeral pole). It is approximately the size of the palm of the hand. The ridged area of the comb is dipped in ochre and then, in a rhythmic process, rolled onto the canvas a number of times - a process that is repeated to slowly build up a pattern. The making of the work becomes a reflective experience, the very process of gridding in Miyinga a way of imprinting the artist’s memories onto the canvas.

Marie Josette’s work is held in private collections internationally and nationally and major public galleries including the:

National Gallery of Australia

National Gallery of Victoria

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

Queensland Art Gallery

Seattle Art Museum

Mario Josette’s mother, Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, art is held by many collectors and institutions, including:

National Gallery of Australia (20 works)

National Gallery of Victoria (18 works)

Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney

Art Gallery of South Australia