Her family relocated to a small town, Nerang, in the Hinterlands off the Gold Coast, Queensland, which is where she grew up with her sister and brothers who included Mike Parr—an artist with whom she has often collaborated.
[citation needed] In 1971, she completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia.
[4] In 1975 Rrap worked with members of a performance art group (Alex Danko, Mike Parr, Noel Sheridan, Joan Grounds and Tim Burns) from the University of Sydney.
[4] She continues to work in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney and leads research and publishes about artists.
She continued "this ‘lack therefore influenced my decision to make art as I felt there was so much missing from that history that could represent female sensibilities."
Rrap's artistic career began in the 1970s where she explored painting, performance, photography, sculpture and video.
Julie uses this influence to "…poke fun at the stereotypical representations of women transforming these characters into active agents for change."
[4] This installation was made up of 60 black-and-white and 19 coloured photographs of her own naked body posed to challenge the traditional "male gaze" of the female nude.
[2] In 1994, her work Transpositions covered a wall with 100 boards on which were printed photographs of historical portraits of women.