Born around 1945, Barbara Weir’s mother was Minnie Pwerle and her father Jack Weir, the white lessee of a cattle station adjoining her mother’s country. Weir is a fluent Anmatyerre and Alyawarre speaker, the first female member of the Aboriginal Land Council and had been instrumental in the Utopia people’s successful land rights claim in 1975. In 1985 she was the first woman president of the region’s Urapuntja Council. She was one of the younger women of the Utopia batik school and in 1994 travelled to Indonesia with the group to work with traditional batik makers. She started painting around 1994 and has since become a highly popular and successful artist. All of Weir’s paintings are representations of the once fertile lands of her mother's country at a time when plants, animals and water (including that considered sacred) were plentiful. Themes of her paintings include grass seed, bush berry, wild flowers and Awelye (women’s body design). A recent series has seen her take the unusual departure of working in ochres of her land which include fragments of crystal. These extraodinary works which feature the stories of her mother's country and its rich and ancient history demonstrate the level of innovation in new media and designs that has always characterised her work.