Murdie Nampijinpa Morris

Murdie Morris was born around 1934 at Rabbit Flat on the Tanami Track. She grew up in the bush around Tanami Downs and lived a traditional lifestyle until the time her father worked on the Granites Goldfields. She is also a senior custodian and traditional owner of this land.

She was married to Tiger Tjapaltjari in Lajamanu and lived there with him until he passed away. She now lives at Nyiripi, west of Yuendemu.

She had been watching the other women painting and has wanted to try creating some artwork herself for some time.

Her paintings represent the Maliki, or wild dog dreaming. It tells the story of the Wild Dogs in Murdie's home country of Lajamanu. They travel from camp to camp looking for food that they can steal from the people. The people of the camp can see where the dogs leave their tracks in the sand and people will often find the left over bones as well. This is an important story and belongs to the Namitjinpa/Tjampitjinpa and Nangala/Tjangala skin groups.