[2] 'Napaljarri' (in Warlpiri) or 'Napaltjarri' (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people.
Biddy was born circa 1940[1] in the area of Mongrel Downs station in Western Australia,[5] The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous Australians operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events.
In the western desert communities such as Kintore, Yuendumu, Balgo, and on the outstations, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale.
[11] Biddy Rockman began painting at Lajamanu, Northern Territory, in the central desert, west of Tennant Creek, in 1986.
[13] Johnson's biographical survey of artists in 1994 identified her country as Jarlawangu, and that she painted Ngatijirri (budgerigar) and Warna dreamings,[14] stories that belong to Napaljarri and Nungarrayi women.