Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a social enterprise of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council (NPY Women’s Council) that enables women living in the remote Central and Western Desert regions to earn an income from fibre art. Tjanpi represents over 400 Aboriginal women artists from 26 remote communities across Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Tjanpi artists use native grasses to make spectacular contemporary fibre art, weaving beautiful baskets and sculptures and displaying a seemingly endless creativity and inventiveness. Working with fibre in this way has become a fundamental part of Central and Western desert cultures.
Tjanpi embodies the energies and rhythms of country, culture and community. Women regularly come together to collect grass, taking the time to hunt, gather food, perform inma (cultural song and dance) and teach their children about country while creating an ever-evolving array of fibre artworks. The shared stories, skills and experiences of this wide-reaching network of mothers, daughters, aunties, sisters and grandmothers form the bloodline of the desert-weaving phenomenon and fuel Tjanpi’s rich history of collaborative practice.
Tjanpi has a public gallery in Alice Springs, exhibits work in national galleries, facilitates commissions for public institutions, and holds weaving workshops.
