Clem Rictor was born at Yampil rockhole in the Western Desert. As a boy he went to Warburton Mission School. As he said: "It was good in those days - no drinking, no sniffing." He got work on a station in Kalgoorlie, mustering sheep and wild cattle, branding and fencing. He then moved to Kandali working in a sandalwood business. The young people would go out and collect the trees and the old people back at camp would clean them up before putting them on the train in Kalgoorlie for the trip to Perth. Rictor returned to Irrunytju and helped build a road connecting Irrunytju to Tjuntjuntjarra. In 2001 Rictor followed the example of the women of Irrunytju community and began to paint on canvas. His work was first exhibited in an Irrunytju Men's exhibition at Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney in 2002.