Walala Tjapaltjarri is a Pintupi man who was born in the early 1960s at Marua, east of Kiwirrkurra in the Gibson Desert. Walala arrived with his family at Kiwirrkura in 1984 after walking out of the Gibson Desert, where they had been leading the traditional life of the nomadic Pintupi in the region near Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay). This was their first contact with European society. Their emergence from the desert, in a region which was thought no longer to have any traditional owners still living a nomadic way of life, caused great national and international interest.

Walala started painting two years later producing classic Tingari images. The subject of his work is the Tingari Cycle which are secret song cycles sacred to initiated men.

By 1996 his painting his style had evolved to the works he continues to paint, characterised by rectangular shapes with surrounding dots and a limited palette of up to four colours. He first started exhibiting his work in 1997 (in the 14th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin) and he has been involved with a number of group exhibitions since, as well as having several solo shows. His paintings are represented in private and public collections in Australia, Europe and the USA.