Background Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began when Indigenous men at
Papunya began painting in 1971, assisted by teacher
Geoffrey Bardon. Their work, which used acrylic paints to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures, rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia, particularly following the commencement of a government-sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983. By the 1980s and 1990s, such work was being exhibited internationally. The first artists, including all of the founders of the
Papunya Tula artists' company, had been men, and there was resistance amongst the Pintupi men of central Australia to women painting. However, there was also a desire amongst many of the women to participate, and in the 1990s large numbers of them began to create paintings. In the western desert communities such as Kintore,
Yuendumu,
Balgo, and on the
outstations, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale. Western Desert artists such as Norah will frequently paint particular '
dreamings', or stories, for which they have personal responsibility or rights, and in Norah's case these have included Karntjarra (Two Women), Ngaru (
bush plum) Ngarlkirdi (
witchetty grub) and Pangkurlangu (Giant) dreamings. Galleries in both Australia and elsewhere have exhibited works by Norah, including Gallery
Gabrielle Pizzi in Melbourne, the
Lowe Art Museum at the
University of Miami in the United States, and the
National Gallery of Victoria. Her works are held in several major Australian collections, including the private Holmes à Court collection, and the public collection of the National Gallery of Victoria. ==Collections==