Minnie Pwerle (1910 - 2006) is from the Utopia region approximately 300km north east of Alice Springs. NT Utopia artists have been at the forefront of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement since Emily Kngwarreye came to the attention of collectors and institutions in the 1990s. Since then, distinguished artists such as Gloria Petyarre, Kathleen Petyarre, and Barbara Weir (Pwerle’s daughter) have risen to prominence.

Minnie Pwerle’s first solo exhibition was held at Flinders Lane Gallery in 2000, her second in 2004, and her final exhibition in 2006.

Pwerle's work is focussed on womens’ body design (awelye-atnwengerrp) or sometimes bush melon designs and she is well known for her loose, free-flowing and repetitious patterning evocative of finger painting.