Murdie Nampijinpa Morris Australian, Warlpiri, b. 1934

Murdie (Maudie) Nampijinpa Morris was born in the 1930s at Rabbit Flat, atiny settlement inthe middle of the harsh Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory of Australia about 160 km fromthe Western Australia border and 315 km north-west of Yuendumu. Her parents would havetaken her out bush in around Nyirripi area, showing her sites and teaching her the traditionalways of her country. In the early 1980s she seled in Yuendumu and worked at theOldPeople’s Home-a Program that cares for the elderly by helping them when they are sick, andbeing with them when they are alone or when they are frighten during storms. She wasmarried but is now a widowed woman. She never had children.She now livesfullme inNyirripi.Murdie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporaon, an Aboriginalowned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2012. She was prompted topaint when she attended a workshop in 2012. She enjoys painting, and paints her father’sjukurrpa, Maliki Jukurrpa (Domestic Dog Dreaming) and Malikijarra Jukurrpa (Two DogDreaming). Dreamings that have been passed down through the generations for millennia andrelate directly to the land, its features and the animals and plants that inhabit it. She uses anunrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture