Language: Walpari
Country: Yuendumu NT

Dorothy grew up in the bush around the Mina Mina with little contact with the white man. Her father is Paddy Lewis senior lawgiver and her mother is Jeannie Lewis Napururrla. Dorothy moved with her family to Yuendumu the family was not happy there and found their way back to the Mina Mina. As a young girl Dorothy was promised to an older man whom she married and moved to Alice Springs. It was in Alice Springs in 1987 that Dorothy began to paint. She painted with other Warlpiri women who also lived in Alice Springs. Dorothy Jukurrupa or Dreaming describes the origins and journeys of ancestral beings. The Mina Mina region of the Warlpiri lands is typified by large areas of sand hills which weave through the landscape. Her work shows her people running and dancing through and across their country and the various events some extremely significant that happened along the way. She shows what her country and the salt lakes (Laker Mackay) looks like to her. Dorothy says when she paints “she always has her family in mind she always has her country in mind.
Sadly Dorothy died in a car accident in June 2013.