Honouring TTRA APac’s founding president
The below artwork was gifted to TTRA Asia-Pacific Chapter’s founding president, Professor Sue Beeton, in honour of her extraordinary vision, passion and determination to institute the TTRA ethos of travel and tourism research in the Asia-Pacific region. Through her tireless efforts, generosity and wisdom, she has profoundly influenced the lives and careers of many Chapter members, and will continue to do so. Her legacy contribution to travel and tourism knowledge creation and dissemination in the Asia-Pacific is beyond measure and without parallel.
Artwork by: Pedro Wonaeamirri
Title: ‘Yirrinkiripwoja’ (Bodypaint design)
A delicate sugarlift and aquatint etching from the Tiwi Islands depicting bodypaint. Traditional Tiwi Culture placed special significance on the Pukumani (funeral) ceremony. Mourners are decorated using natural ochres to disguise themselves from the spirit of the deceased and song and dance is performed to honour the dead. Yirrinkiripwoja (bodypaint) is the source of many contemporary Tiwi designs and performance of the pukumani as ritual helps to reinvigorate the imagery. The shortening of the word to Pwoja – also refers to ‘best’.
https://jilamara.com/artist/pedro-wonaeamirri/
Sue’s thank you
Dear TTRA APac Board and Members, A deep and heartfelt thanks for your generous gift of artwork and acknowledgement of my role over the years with TTRA and the broader tourism world. I am truly humbled and overwhelmed. One does not go into any engagement with associations such as TTRA without a strong desire to work for the ‘wider good’ for our world, now and into the future. In fact, the past two decades have given me far more than I gave, both personally and professionally. Today, we need our research professionals even more, and while times are tough for many of us, we must keep questioning, studying and working towards a greater understanding of the complex tourism world and our place in it. I remain committed to tourism scholarship and research and look forward to a time when we can all meet together again.
