Darby Jampijinpa Ross was born at Ngarliyikirlangu. His country lay to the north of Yuendumu and his totems were emu and bandicoot but he also painted ngapa (water), pamapardu (flying ant) and wardilyka (bush turkey); and staged-managed a huge Jardiwanpa canvas commissioned for inclusion in the travelling exhibition Aratjara: Art of the First Australians, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany, 1993.
Ross began to paint with Warlukurlangu Artists in 1985 and regularly exhibited his work from then until the late 1990s when he moved to the Hetti Perkins Home for the Aged in Alice Springs. His work was included in the major exhibitions, Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, The Asia Society Galleries, New York, 1989; Mythscapes: Aboriginal Art of the Desert, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989 and Aratjara: Art of the First Australians, Dusseldorf 1993. He died at the Hetti Perkins Home for the Aged in Alice Springs on 14 March 2005, the day after his 100th birthday celebrations. The artist was honoured by a touring retrospective exhibition Darby Jampijinpa Ross: Make it good for the people held in 2008-09.
