Barry Kantilla Tiwi, Australian, b. 1965

Barry Kantilla is a skilled carver who creates tutini (poles), tokwampini (birds) and figures of Tiwi ancestral people Purukapali, Bima and Tapara. While Barry is very well recognised for his carved heads, figures and birds, it is his carved ironwood tutini that have become famous. He made a collaborative carving with David Tipuamantumirri for the Dutch Ambassador to Australia in 2005, and carved a Tutini for the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Tiwi Land Council, 2008. 

In 2006 Barry and four other Tiwi carvers exhibited Tutini in several interstate locations and in 2008 he was chosen to carve a Tutini for the entrance to the Nguiu ( Wurrumiyanga) Cemetery funded by the Commonwealth Government.Barry’s work is held in the Artbank collection, Darwin Catholic Cathedral, Charles Darwin University Art Collection and in many Australian private collections. 

His recent work shows his love and observation of birds in smaller elegant groups of carvings which are much in demand and his carved figure of Tapara, the Moon man. 

In 2022 Barry in the collaborative group of carvings with Gordon Pupangamirri, David Tipuamantumirri and Graham Tipungwuti was selected for the Wynne Prize Art Gallery NSW for their carvings, "First Death on the Tiwi Islands”.