Biography

Kayi Kayi Nampitjinpa was born in 1946 at Kiwirkurra, northwest of Alice Springs. She lives and works in Kintore with many other Pintupi people, the community has a rich artistic tradition and many of the galleries and dealers travel to the community to purchase painitngs. She has painted large scale paintings in collaboration with her family for the Art Gallery of NSW and the National Gallery in Canberra. She is considered part of a second generation of female artists, most of whom already had many years of experience assisting the first generation of male painters from Papunya. Kayi Kayi has the custodial rights to paint the sacred and secret Tingari Dreamings (stories) relating to her country Kiwirkurra. The Tingari were a group of mythical creatures from the Dreamtime who traveled vast stretches of desert, performed sacred rituals, taught law and shaped and created particular features in the landscape.