Tjanpi Desert Weavers began as a series of basket-weaving workshops held tn the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in Western Australia by the NPY Women's Council in 1995. Women needed meaningful and appropriate employment on their homelands to improve life for their families.
Building upon a long history with fibre to make objects for ceremonial and daily use, women were soon sharing these skills with neighbouring communities, and today women across 18 central desert communities make a beautiful array of quirky and animated sculptural forms and magnificent baskets from locally collected grasses.
Working with fibre in this way is a fundamental and vital part of contemporary desert culture.