Nampitjinpa's work is placed into dialogue with the symbolism derived from traditional body painting practices, with concentric circles representing waterholes and the lines emanating symbolising ancestral pathways or songlines established during the 'Tjukurrpa,' or time of creation.
Esther Giles Nampitjinpa was born in 1948 just North of the docker river in yumari. She moved to papunya shortly after the death of her brother with her sister Tjawina Porter Nampitjinpa. They both begun as basket weavers where Esther developed her artistic prowess.
Esther's paintings make great use of the harmony between the different symbols of the landscape: sand dunes ('tali'), rock escarpments ('puli'), waterholes, and essential food sources. These sites are drawn from her knowledge of Yumari, Punkilpirri and Tjalili lands.
This is placed into dialogue with the symbolism derived from traditional body painting practices, with concentric circles representing waterholes and the lines emanating symbolising ancestral pathways or songlines established during the 'Tjukurrpa,' or time of creation.