Minnie was born in 1910 in the Utopia region, Northern Territory, and died in 2006. Her country is Atnwengerrp and her language groups Anmatyerre and Alyawarr. She experienced a diverse range of experiences over the course of the last century, observing tremendous changes in her cultural lifestyle.

Encouraged late in life by her family to partake in the industry that has brought global attention to her region, Minnie began painting full time when she was in her late eighties. Nevertheless, with a gregarious and free-spirited approach to her work she certainly achieved the freshness and innocence of child at play! With a loose, free-flowing and repetitious patterning - evocative of finger painting - Minnie focused on women’s’ body designs (awelye-atnwengerrp) and often in combination with bush melon designs.

Minnie’s distinctive painting style is showcased in the exhibition Body Lines. A selection of small and medium works (mostly from around 2004 at the height of her energies) feature the Awelye Body Stripes - a design that had previously been given much attention to her close kin relative Emily Kame Kngwarreye