Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a social enterprise of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council that enables women living in the remote Central and Western deserts to earn an income from fibre art.
Tjanpi represents over 400 Aboriginal women artists from 26 remote communities who make spectacular contemporary fibre art in the form of baskets and sculptures.
NPYWC was formed in response to the land rights struggles of the late 1970s when women realised that they would have greater power, a stronger voice and be able to improve the lives of women and children on their Lands by uniting and collectively advocating for systemic change.
NPYWC has since grown from an advocacy service into a major Indigenous directed and governed organisation delivering a wide range of health, social and cultural services across 26 desert communities.
Tjanpi Desert Weavers was born in 1995, in response to a self-identified need for meaningful and culturally appropriate employment for women.
In a region of extreme economic disadvantage, Tjanpi provides an important opportunity for Anangu women to earn an income without having to leave their remote homes, families and communities.
Grass weaving builds upon a long history of collecting and utilising natural materials to stitch and weave practical and ceremonial objects.
The NPY Lands cover approximately 350,000 square kilometres across the tri-state border region of NT, SA and WA.
Our Creative Development team regularly visit communities by road to purchase artworks upfront from artists, supply art materials, run workshops, and facilitate grass collecting trips. These trips provide an opportunity for women to visit culturally significant sites, hunt, perform inma and share important teachings and stories with their young people.
Artists use local native grasses to make spectacular contemporary fibre art, displaying a seemingly endless creativity and inventiveness.
Tjanpi embodies the energies and rhythms of Country, culture and community. 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 have fuelled Tjanpi’s rich history of collaborative practice.
“It’s good for young women too. We can show them the sacred sites, special grass and best time to go and get them. We can tell stories while we’re collecting the grass and making the baskets.”
Mrs Benson, Papulankutja WA
Tjanpi regularly exhibits work in national galleries, facilitates commissions for public institutions and holds weaving workshops.
You'll find Tjanpi stocked at locations around the country, or if you're local, visit our public gallery in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) for our full range of products.
Mparntwe Gallery
Explore the largest collection of Tjanpi artworks at our gallery in Alice Springs. Discover a changing selection of baskets, sculptures, jewellery, books, and merchandise, including products from the NPY Women’s Council Ngangkari team.
Location: NPY Women’s Council, 3 Wilkinson Street, Alice Springs NT 0870 – just follow the pink signs.
Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 10am–4pm (closed weekends, public holidays, and during January).
Contact us: (08) 8958 2377 tjanpi.reception@npywc.org.au