Jimmy Baker (1915-2010) was born along the Kalaya Tjukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) track in the Western Desert at a rockhole called Malumpa, a location close to the present-day community of Kanpi in north-west South Australia. He was one of the most senior and highly respected men in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands.
From an early age Baker was aware that he had special powers. As a highly respected ngangkari (healer), he travelled extensively throughout South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, applying his traditional knowledge and skills. He was also an exceptional craftsman who was able to create traditional implements of the highest standard. Baker began painting in 2004 and produced a relatively small body of work. He was one of a handful of artists attached to Tjungu Palya, a community-based art centre at Nyapari. His work, Kalaya Tjukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) (2008), depicts the cultural landscape, his Tjukurrpa, with authority and integrity, acting as a bridge toward mutual respect and understanding.
Like other senior men, he painted stories in a way that clearly defined significant sites or paths etched in the landscape by ancestral beings. These sites are multi-layered, with physical, geographical, spiritual and ceremonial connotations.