Maria Josette Orsto

Maria Josette Orsto's career began by assisting her father at Tiwi Island Design arts cooperative. Later on in the 90s Orsto began working at the Munupi Arts and Crafts Association during its early days as an arts center. She was the first female artist to work at the art center after it was formed in 1990 by combining Yikiyikini Women's Centre and Pirlangimpi Pottery under the same name. In 1994, Orsto became one of the first female artists to produce a textile for Tiwi Designs, and art center founded by artists Giovanni Tipungwuti and Bede Tungutalum. In 1997, Orsto alongside artist Jock Puautjimi, created a series of seven designs for the first issue of pre-paid envelopes commissioned from Australia Post.

Maria Josette Orsto (October 30, 1962 - November 30 2020) was an aboriginal artist born at Pirlangimpi, on Melville Island (one of the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory). Her father, Declan Apuatimi, and her mother, Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, were also noted aboriginal artists from the Tiwi Islands. Orsto was one of the first female members of Tiwi Designs. Prior to her death she worked and lived at Wurrumiyanga (formerly Ngiui) on Bathurst Island.

Screen printing and fabric were introduced to the islands with the arrival of Father Gsell and the Catholic mission at Nguiu, Bathurst Island in 1911. This greatly impacted the way Tiwi Islanders dress from paperbark aprons to calico skirts and later items of clothing with single motif prints of animals and other subjects. These calico skirts were made using woodblock painting. Screen printing on fabric offered Tiwi people a channel through which to participate in the Western market. The printed fabric was able to be sold locally to tourists as well as to outlets in Darwin.