Kayi Kayi Nampitjinpa

BORN 1946 (Deceased)

REGION Kintore

LANGUAGE Pintupi

Kayi Kayi Nampitjinpa was born in 1946 in her traditional country of Kiwirrkurra, North West of Alice Springs. Kayi Kayi was one of the second generation women artists whose early beginnings centered around assisting the male artists of Papunya—but who emerged with her own unique and sophisticated style. In 1996, She began painting in the Pintupi community at Kintore—founded in the early 1980’s when the Pintupi tribes left the government reservation at Papunya.

Kayi Kayi primarily painted rock hole dreaming and women’s ceremony from her ancestral country around Kiwirrkurra—the sacred Tingari cycle underpinned her works. Tingari are a group of mythical characters of the Dreaming who travelled over vast stretches of the country, performing rituals and creating and shaping particular sites. The Tingari women usually followed the Tingari men and were accompanied by novices.

It is the Tingari men and women’s travels and adventures that are enshrined in a number of song cycles. It is only through initiation ceremony that Kayi Kayi had permission to paint the stories.

Kayi Kayi’s work is held in major public and private collections including; Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin,  Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Gantner Myer Collection, San Francisco, Artbank, Sydney, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne University of New South Wales, Sydney. She was a finalist in the 2000 17th NATSIAA, Darwin.