The Last Nomads

In October 1984, nine Pintupi people walked out of the Gibson Desert. They had never encountered Europeans. They had never seen a car. Their arrival at Kiwirrkura made international headlines. The world called them the Last Nomads.

Among them were brothers Walala and Thomas Tjapaltjarri. Within years of leaving the desert, both had begun to paint. Their work now hangs in collections across Australia, Europe and the United States.

They paint the Tingari - the sacred songlines of their ancestors, the journeys of ancestral beings across the Western Desert. These are not decorative paintings. They are maps of a living law, made by men who grew up inside it.

Thomas sadly passed away in 2024. His work now carries the weight of a closed chapter - paintings made by one of the last people to have lived entirely on country in the traditional way.

3 products
  • Tingari painting by Walala Tjapaltjarri and Thomas Tjapaltjarri 150cm x 96cm
    from $6,800.00
    from $6,800.00
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  • from $5,200.00
    from $5,200.00
    $3,600.00
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  • Blue and white patterned tingari Aboriginal Art full painting medium large size
    from $4,100.00
    from $4,100.00
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