Joy Purvis was born around 1962 and comes from Utopia approximately 350km North-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Joy is the sister of well-known artist Anna Price Pitjara and thus, coming from an artistic family, developed her painting early on in her life.

Joy began painting on Batik like many Utopian women of the time, but developed her style and later moved onto canvas. Joy’s stories are primarily that of ‘Bush Seeds’ or ‘Yam Seeds’ Dreaming. These seeds act as a vital food source in Utopia, as they are powdered down to be used as flour to make Bush Damper.

Joy’s works have been featured in exhibitions both nationally and internationally, with her batik works being featured in Indonesia in the mi...