Kiwirrkura Aboriginal Art

Kiwirrkura is a small Aboriginal community in the Gibson Desert in Western Australia, 1200 km east of Port Headland and 850 km west of Alice Springs. It has been described as the most remote community in Australia. It was established around a bore in the early 1980s, as an outstation for Pintupi people seeking to move further west, closer to their ancestral lands.

Kiwirrkura became a permanent community in 1983, and was one of the last areas with a nomadic Aboriginal lifestyle around that time. In October 2001 the Kiwirrkurra people gained Native Title over 42,900 sq. km of the surrounding land and waters. Although situated in a desert, it is in a low-lying area without drainage. It was flooded in early 2000 and again in March 2001, when there was a forced evacuation of its population of 170 residents.

Although the community name is gazetted as Kiwirrkurra, the correct spelling in Pintupi orthography is Kiwirrkura, and this spelling is often used in printed material and websites. Kiwirrkura, along with Kintore community to the east, form the principal centres and homelands for Pintupi Aboriginal artists working with Papunya Tula.

Further information is available on exhibiting artists on the following links

Yinarupa Gibson Nangala
Thomas Tjapaltjarri
Walala Tjapaltjarri
Ningura Napurrula
Mitjili Napanangka Gibson
Patrick Tjungurrayi