Patsy Ross b. 1975

Patsy Ross was born in 1975 and went to primary school in Willowra, then went on to study at Yirara College in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Patsy is a proud Warlpiri woman. She is sister-in-law to acclaimed artist, Janet Long Nakamarra. 

Patsy paints various aspects of women’s business, from collecting bush seeds and other tucker like wild blackberries, harvesting bush medicine, and Yawulyu - aspects of ceremony, such as women's traditional body paint designs. Patsy and her family still go out collecting bush tucker when they go back to country. It is this - her country and the abundance it offers to her family and community - that Patsy chooses to depict in her meticulous and precisely painted works. 

Patsy was taught to paint by her mother, who she says was the happiest person in the world. Patsy has an innate sense of colour, using this intuition to bring her country to life. Patsy also works for Purple House, an Indigenous owned and run health service in Mparntwe.