Murdie (Maudie) Nampijinpa Morris was born in the 1930s at Rabbit Flat, a tiny settlement in the middle of the harsh Tanami Desert, NT. Her parents would have taken her out bush around Nyirripi area, showing her sites and teaching her the traditional ways of her country.  In the early 1980s she settled in Yuendumu and worked at the Old People’s Home – a program that cares for the elderly by helping them when they are sick and being with them when they are alone. 

Murdie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre, located in Yuendumu since 2012. She was prompted to paint when she attended a workshop in 2012. She paints her father’s jukurrpa, Maliki Jukurrpa (Domestic Dog Dreaming) and Malikijarra Jukurrpa (Two Dog Dreaming); Dreamings that have been passed down through the generations for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features and the animals and plants that inhabit it. She uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.