Tarntipi is an extended project and collaboration arising from the photographer’s commitment to documenting the vision of Tiwi Elder Teddy (Edward) Portaminni (Junior). Revolving around Teddy’s Ancestorial Country (Tarntipi, on Bathurst Island), the photographs trace the development of a Tiwi-led business (devised for the purpose of facilitating cultural education), and the connection Walton-Healey subsequently came to share with Teddy, his wife Teresia, and their family.

The depth of this connection was celebrated through a photographic exhibition held at Magnet Galleries Melbourne in November 2024. Extending to a maquette of a co-authored publication, and a workshop aiming to share and impart strategies for cross-cultural communication, this event marked the most recent outcome of a collaboration extending back to 2015, and including a previous photographic exhibition at Darwin’s Aboriginal Bush Traders (2018), and series of photographic slideshow workshops delivered in Wurrumiyanga (2021), and Darwin (2022).

In addition to detailing the photographer’s transformative experience of Country, the Tarntipi project and publication showcase the powerful and enduring ties that Teddy and his family share with their lands.