Minnie Motorcar Apwerl was born in the bush at Anunapa, her country, north-east of Alice Springs.
In 1937, the borders of the Utopia pastoral lease were drawn across Minnie's ancestral country and, like other Anmatyerr and Alyawarr people of her generation, she was brought into contact with Europeans.
In 1977, 40 years later, Anmatyerr and Alyawarr people at Utopia were given the opportunity to work in the introduced medium of batik and made a successful transition to painting in 1989-90.
Minnie Apwerl was aware of what was happening at Utopia, but did not begin painting until 1999. She held her first solo exhibition in September 2000 and has exhibited her work regularly since then.
