BORN 1946

REGION Kintore

LANGUAGE Pintupi

Kayi Kayi Nampitjinpa was born in 1946 in her traditional Country of Kiwirrkurra, north-west of Alice Springs. She was part of the second generation of Pintupi women artists who began their artistic journeys by supporting the senior male painters of the Papunya movement before developing their own distinctive artistic voices.

Kayi Kayi began painting in 1996 in the Pintupi community of Kintore (Walungurru), established in the early 1980s as Pintupi people returned from Papunya to their traditional homelands. Her work reflects her deep connection to Country, cultural knowledge and the ancestral stories passed down through generations.

Her paintings primarily depict rockhole Dreamings and women’s ceremonial stories from her ancestral lands around Kiwirrkurra. Central to her work is the Tingari cycle, the ancient stories of ancestral beings who travelled across the desert, performing ceremonies, creating landscapes and establishing sacred sites. The journeys of the Tingari men and women are preserved through songlines and ceremonial knowledge, and Kayi Kayi painted these stories with permission gained through cultural initiation.

Her works are recognised for their intricate compositions, sophisticated use of colour and the way they translate the spiritual significance of Country into contemporary painting. Through her art, Kayi Kayi continued the Pintupi tradition of recording ancestral knowledge while developing a highly individual style.

Kayi Kayi Nampitjinpa’s paintings are held in major public and private collections including the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Araluen Arts Centre, Artbank, the National Gallery of Victoria, and significant international collections such as the Gantner Myer Collection in San Francisco. She was also a finalist in the 2000 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA).