Born 1945, near Areyonga and Tempe Downs, Northern Territory. Lives and works Pukatja (Ernabella), Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yangkunytjatjara (APY) Lands, South Australia. Pitjantjatjara people. Niningka Lewis’s innovative multidisciplinary practice incorporates painting, jewellery, weaving and sculpture. Lewis often works collaboratively and she has been making innovative woven and sculptural works with the Tjanpi Desert Weavers since 1995. Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a not-for-profit Indigenous social enterprise of the NPY Women’s Council, a resource, advocacy and support organisation for Aboriginal women living in remote communities across the western and central deserts. It was created out of a need for meaningful and culturally appropriate employment and to enable women to earn a regular income from selling their fibre art. Tjanpi (meaning ‘grass’) supports the production and marketing of baskets, sculptures and seed jewellery made by more than 400 artists from 28 remote communities and builds on a long tradition of working with natural fibres to create objects for daily and ceremonial use. Aboriginal women regularly come together on country to collect grass, sculpt and weave, sing and dance and keep culture strong while creating beautiful, intricate and expressive fibre art. Solo exhibitions of Lewis’ work include Niningka Lewis: My stories, Turnbridge Gallery, Perth (2016); Niningka Lewis, Turnbridge Gallery, Perth (2014) and Ara irititja munu ara kuwaritja Ernabella-la, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne (2011). Group exhibitions include Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters, National Museum of Australia, Canberra (2017-18); Relative Colours, Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney (2017); Sappers & Shrapnel: Contemporary Art and the Art of the Trenches, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2016-17); MCA Collection: Today Tomorrow Yesterday, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2016); Nganampa Kililpil: Our Stars, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, Gymea, New South Wales (2016); Desert Mob, Araluen Arts Centre, Northern Territory (2015); Whisper in My Mask, TarraWarra Biennial, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria (2014); String Theory: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2013 and touring nationally 2013-15); Deadly: in-between heaven and hell, 2012 Adelaide Festival, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide (2012) and Manguri weaving: a touring exhibition of weaving by Aboriginal women from the central and western deserts of Australia, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, Virginia, USA (2001). Lewis’ work is held in a number of public collections including Araluen Arts Collection, Northern Territory; Artbank, Australia; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide and the Australian Museum, Sydney.