 Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began in 1971 when Indigenous men at <unk> created murals and <unk> using western art materials , assisted by teacher Geoffrey <unk> . Their work , which used <unk> paints to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures , rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia , particularly after the introduction of a government @-@ sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983 . By the 1980s and ' 90s , such work was being exhibited internationally . The first artists , including all of the founders of the <unk> <unk> artists ' company , were men , and there was resistance among the <unk> men of central Australia to women also painting . However , many of the women wished to participate , and in the 1990s many of them began to paint . In the western desert communities such as <unk> , <unk> , <unk> , <unk> , and on the <unk> , people were beginning to create art works <unk> for exhibition and sale . 
