Barbara Napangarti Reid was born sometime around 1962 in the Tjukurla region of the Gibson Desert, in Western Australia. She began painting in 1987 with the Centre of Aboriginal Artists in Alice Springs.

Barbara’s distinctive works depict her traditional country in the Gibson Desert, many of her paintings show Puli (rock formations) and tali (sand hills) which are numerous in this country and of women’s ceremonial stories related to the formation of the natural environment around Tjukurla.

This area is dominated by expansive sand hills and rockholes containing water where bush foods are found. Also vital to Barbara’s work is the telling or MINYMA (women’s sacred stories) which are narratives that revolve around the roles of the woman as healers and providers in Ngaanyatjarra society.