Nyarapayi Giles, a Ngaanyatjarra woman, began painting on canvas while settled in Patjarr Community, when the modern Desert Art Movement sprung from Papunya Tula and gained astounding momentum in the 1970s. She has been described as a “first contact” woman as her youth was lived nomadically in the Gibson Desert. Giles painted between various communities in Ngaanyatjarra lands until 2006 when Tjarlirli Art was established in the Tjukurla community. Tjukurla lies between Kintore and Kaltukatjara (Docker River) resting on the banks of saltwater Lake Hopkins, its surrounding landscape bearing sandhills, claypans and desert oak trees. Karrku, where Giles was born, is an important cultural site associated with the Karlaya Tjukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) in which emus are rumoured to have gone digging in the local ochre deposit for the fine-grained powder that, when combined with water, transforms into a red, sanguineous substance. Red ochre, such as that found at Karrku, holds ceremonial weight, used in initiative body painting and later by artists on canvas.
The deep knowledge Giles possesses of these ancestral histories is evidenced by her work. Her large concentric circles in fluorescent hues, interlaced by poised dot work, and partnered by auxiliary lines and arcs can be understood as picturing the location of the ochre pits and sand dunes in Ngaanyatjarra Country. Giles’ canvases are striking due to her bold use of warring pigments: tawny reds, brilliant azul and ultramarine, deep grey, feathery cream, brick pink and Atlantic green. In juxtaposition, these colours unite in kaleidoscopic and sensational masterpieces. Dallas Gold, who launched the seminal exhibition The Wild Ones at RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs in 2013 with a selection of Giles’ canvases included, celebrated the artist for her unusual capacity to do away with the “soft aesthetic” common to “painting by a desert woman.”
Giles is widely acknowledged as one of the leading artists who brought international attention to painting from Ngaanyatjarra Country. One of her first canvases for Tjarlirli Art was a finalist in the 2008 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award (NATSIAA) and awarded First Prize in the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Art Award that same year. Giles’ posthumous reputation continues to develop with more recent exhibitions of her works in London.