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. As well as painting, Valerie Lynch has undertaken printmaking. Two of her prints, made using open-bite
etching and
aquatint, are in the collection of the
National Gallery of Australia. These were made in 2007, published by Cicada Press, and purchased by the gallery in that same year. Also in 2007, Valerie Lynch participated in a group exhibition, organised through the
University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts, and held at
Orange, New South Wales Regional Gallery. Her work was exhibited alongside that of other prominent Australian artists including
Adam Cullen,
John Coburn,
Cherry Hood and
Michael Nelson Jagamarra. ==Collections==