Date of Birth: c. 1955

Birthplace: “Tjulyuru”, SE of Jupiter Well, WA

Language: Pintupi

Yinarupa was a young girl when her father Anatjari Tjampitjinpa and her mother Mamuriu Napaltjarri came in from the desert in 1963, as one of the last groups to do so under the direction of welfare patrols lead by Jeremy Long. The patrol, with Nosepeg Tjupurrula and a Tjampitjinpa from Papunya, located the family at “Mukala”. At this time her family were living on “bush mangari” made from seeds, water and food were extremely scarce. Yinarupa and her family travelled to Papunya by truck with the welfare patrol. This story has been well documented in the book “The Lizard Eaters” by Douglas Lockwood.

Yinarupa learned to paint whilst assisting her father at Kintore in the early 1980s. Her connection with tribal traditions is evident in the distinct style of her work. She combines both strong design and careful colour use. Her dreamings or “tjukurrpa”, include women’s ceremony and seed collecting. Yinarupa’s designs are also associated with the secret Tingari ceremonies and Women’s Business at the sites of Tjulna and Ngamurru, located south of the region known as Kiwirrkura.

The shapes in Yinarupa’s paintings represent the features of the country, as well as bush foods. Women are represented by the 'U' shapes and kampararpa berries are represented by the circles. The tree like shapes that run across her paintings are the trees used to make spears. This is Yinarupa's unique representation of the story that Turkey Tolsen and his sister, Mitjili Napurulla, paint (both of whom are also family).

In 2009 Yinarupa cemented her position in Western Desert art, winning the General Painting section of the 26th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in Darwin.