Timothy AKIS

Born in Tsembaga village in the remote Simbai area of Madang Province, Timothy Akis is one of Papua New Guinea’s earliest exhibiting artists. During the 1960s he worked as an interpreter and interlocutor for various linguists and anthropologists, including Americans Ann Rappaport and Georgeda Buchbinder. He began drawing as a way of describing ideas he could not articulate in Tok Pisin – the only language he shared with these researchers. Buchbinder was intrigued by the drawings; when she travelled with Akis to Port Moresby in January 1969, she introduced Akis to artist Georgiana Beier. Beier invited Akis to work in her studio, encouraging him to create images from the imagination. Akis revelled in the opportunity and, six weeks later, 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 in Port Moresby. He also showed works as part of exhibitions in the USA, Great Britain, Australia, the Philippines and Switzerland.