ALISON PURUNTATAMERI was born and grew up in Pirlangimpi on Melville Island, Northern Territory, Australia. Pirlangimpi was previously a police post and Roman Catholic Mission for the rehoming of stolen children in the mid- to late-twentieth century. After attending the local school, Puruntatameri went on to work in child care. Puruntatameri paints with her mother, Pauline (Jedda) Puruntatameri, her partner, James Orsto, and other artists of the community at Munupi Arts & Crafts. Her grandfather, Justin Puruntatameri, a deceased senior law man and painter, encouraged Puruntatameri to start painting. His inspiration spurred Puruntatameri to pursue the art form in 2011. She recalls memories relating to hunting excursions with her grandfather when she was a girl, with him teaching her traditional bush craft, telling her his stories, and calling upon old songs. It was these experiences which drew her to the medium of paint as a new pedagogy for transmitting cultural knowledge, continuing her grandfather’s work. In particular, Puruntatameri’s work - picturing tides and waves - expresses the bond she shares with the waters moving through and around the Tiwi Islands. She says that she remembers her granddfather telling her of his travels to the Tiwi Islands when he was a boy. A reading of her work as visual revivals of her grandfather’s memories can be formulated with this biographical context in mind. Puruntatameri’s paintings thus consider waterscapes as zones of travel - as told by her grandfather’s life history - and as spaces for preserving cultural memory.
Puruntatameri has been a finalist in several art awards, including the Museum of Contemporary Arts 2014 Primavera Art Award; Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Telstra NATSIAA) 2022; The Alice Prize 2022; and the Art Gallery of South Australia’s 2023 Ramsay Art Awards.