Pintupi Nine

he Pintupi Nine were a group of nine Pintupi people who lived a traditional hunter-gatherer desert-dwelling life in Australia’s Gibson Desert until 1984, when they made contact with their relatives near Kiwirrkurra. Collaboration is an important different between Ultimate Art Gallery and other Major Galleries within Sydney. The theme is reflected in the collaborative piece which was done by the first three of the four brothers (Warlimpirrnga, Walala, Tamlik and Yari Yari) of the Last Nomads tribe. Beside this collaborative piece we have individual pieces by the six known paintings on display in the Gallery of the tribe.
The group roamed between waterholes near Lake Mackay, near the Western Australia-Northern Territory border, naked except for their hairstring belts and armed with 2m-long wooden spears and spear throwers, and intricately carved boomerangs. Their diet was dominated by goanna and rabbit as well as bush food native plants. The group was a family, consisting of two co-wives (Nanyanu and Papalanyanu) and seven children. There were four brothers (Warlimpirrnga, Walala, Tamlik, and Yari Yari) and three sisters (Yardi, Yikultji and Tjakaraia). The boys and girls were all in their early-to-late teens, although their exact ages were not known; the mothers were in their late 30s.