Ikuntji was initially set up to fulfill the role of a women's centre.

It has provided services such as catering for old people and children in the community and it still maintains this dual role, even though over the years painting has dominated its operations. Bush trips organised by the centre are important to the artists and their work.

To define the painting of the Ikuntji Women's Centre is difficult as the work created there is so diverse. Artists employ traditional symbols or inventive interpretations of their country and tjukurrpa or a combination of both. Geometric patterning and bold areas of colour are predominant in their work and some artists employ a more narrative approach defining their country pictorially through images of plants, trees and flowers.

Uniting these works, however, is a stimulating use of colour and a bold sense of design. Securing regular ATSIC funding for the centre has given the artists at Ikuntji a certain freedom to experiment. They paint and express their individuality with the latitude to develop as artists. The experimentation and innovation for which the painting from Ikuntji is known, has been received enthusiastically by collectors and galleries. The combination of their rich cultural heritage which they draw upon for inspiration and their highly developed sense of artistic freedom, has produced work that stands strongly in the context of international contemporary painting.