Walala was born in the early 1960s at Marua, east of Kiwirrkurra in the Gibson Desert. He and his family lived the traditional, nomadic life of hunter-gatherers, surviving as their ancestors had for thousands of years through an intimate knowledge of the land, its plants, animals and waterholes.

In late 1984, Walala and eight relatives walked out of the desert in Western Australia and made contact with European society for the first time. Widely reported as “the lost tribe” and now known as the Pintupi Nine, the family made headlines around the world.

Walala was introduced to painting by his brother Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, also an internationally acclaimed artist. His first paintings were in the classical Tingari style, depicting the Tingari Cycle: sacred and secret song cycles connected to his Dreaming sites.

In 1996 he developed his own style, abstracting classical Pintupi designs into a highly graphic language. His paintings are strongly gestural, often built from a series of bold rectangles set against a single-colour background. These rectangles form both a physical and a spiritual map of his Country.

The sites he paints include Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay), Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu: important rockholes, sandhills, sacred mountains and soakages in the Gibson Desert.