This collection brings together works by senior and emerging artists, reflecting the intergenerational sharing of knowledge across NPY communities from kami (grandmothers), ngunytju (mothers), untal(pa) (daughters), kangkuru (sisters) and kuntili (aunties).

For NPY women, weaving is deeply connected to time spent together out bush - collecting tjanpi (native desert grasses), hunting, visiting Country and sharing stories and skills. These works celebrate not only individual expression, but the strength of working together, learning from one another, and keeping connections strong.

About the artist:

Cushia Giles is a young, emerging Ngaanyatjarra artist based in the remote community of Mirlirrtjarra (Warburton).

She comes from a strong lineage of weavers - her grandmother is Tjanpi artist Christine West, and her aunty is Tjanpi basket maker Madeline Jackson - reflecting an intergenerational connection to the fibre practice.

Cushia attended her first Tjanpi Skills Development workshop in August 2025, where she quickly demonstrated a natural aptitude for weaving, particularly through her neat and careful raffia stitching. During the workshop, she created two cat sculptures, one of which has since been selected for exhibition at Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne.

Tjanpi Desert Weavers (Tjanpi meaning ‘wild grass’) is an award-winning, Indigenous governed and directed social enterprise of the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council (NPYWC). Tjanpi empowers over 400 women across a 350 000 square km area of the tri-state region of NT, SA and WA to earn an income and remain in their communities on Country.