Tjanpi Desert Weavers
"Celebrating life, creativity and country"
Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a vibrant not-for-profit Aboriginal social enterprise of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council (‘NPYWC’), an organisation supporting Aboriginal women living in remote communities of Central Australia.
NPYWC members created Tjanpi (meaning ‘grass’) to provide an income opportunity for women living in the Central and Western Deserts. Tjanpi builds on a long history of working with fibre to make objects for ceremonial and daily use and after an initial workshop in 1995, the skills of coiled basketry spread like wild fire across the desert. Adding a contemporary spin to the traditional, women now create baskets, vessels and an astonishing array of vibrant sculptures from locally collected desert grasses bound with string, wool or raffia, often incorporating feathers, seeds and found materials.
Today more than 400 Aboriginal women artists from 28 remote communities across 350,000 sq kms of the Western and Central Deserts of Australia work with Tjanpi to create artworks that are unique, innovative and constantly evolving.
Tjanpi Desert Weavers is represented in national and international public and private art collections and has an extensive exhibition programme. In 2005 Tjanpi weavers from Papulankutja (WA) won the prestigious Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award with their now famous ‘Toyota’.
Tjanpi is more than just fibre art and income; it is firmly embedded in contemporary Central and Western Desert culture as a movement that celebrates life, creativity and country; it provides artists with opportunities to come together and share their unique gifts, perspective and identity with the world. At its core Tjanpi is about family and community—about walytja. Aboriginal women come together on country, collect grass, sculpt and weave, sing and dance and keep culture strong while creating beautiful, intricate and whimsical fibre art.
Tjanpi is a member of peak industry networks Desart and Western Desert Mob, promoting the work of ethical, sustainable, community-based Aboriginal art centres. Profits from sales support the 100 percent Aboriginal-owned and governed Tjanpi.
