Jimmy Pike, Two Little Girls 1987, screenprint

An edition of this enchanting print by Jimmy Pike titled Two Little Girls 1984, is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Edition 244/500, 304/500, Paper size 25x35cm, image size14x19cm

One mother had two baby girls, in one waterhole. Two girls find butterfly flying towards them. They try and grab them. They miss them. They chase them all the way. They come up to a big mob of women, who pick up the two girls. The mother come back and find them. She follow their tracks and come to the women and asked for her two girls, but they wouldn't give her back her two babies.

Jimmy Pike was a celebrated Walmajarri artist whose early life was spent living traditionally with his family, moving between waterholes across the Great Sandy Desert in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. This formative experience — grounded in deep knowledge of Country, culture and ancestral law — became the enduring source of his artistic vision.

Pike’s paintings and screenprints distil the physical and spiritual power of Walmajarri land. Through rhythmic patterning, bold colour and dynamic line, he evokes the shifting seasons of the Kimberley, the vast desert plains and the sacred sites embedded within them. His work does not simply depict landscape; it conveys lived experience — the memory of walking Country, reading its signs, and understanding its spiritual dimensions.

A pioneering figure in contemporary Aboriginal art, Pike successfully bridged traditional storytelling and modern printmaking practice. His imagery translates ancestral narratives into striking contemporary compositions, making his work both culturally grounded and visually compelling. The result is art that carries authority, authenticity and innovation in equal measure.

This limited-edition screenprint exemplifies Pike’s ability to transform the remote northern desert into an immersive visual experience. For collectors and admirers of Australian Indigenous art, it represents not only a significant work by a major Kimberley artist, but also an opportunity to engage with the enduring cultural heritage and timeless landscapes of Walmajarri Country.