Violet Petyarre was born c.1945 at Atnagkere, on the western boundary of Urapuntja in the Northern Territory. Her family, along with her sisters Kathleen, Gloria, Ada Bird, Nancy, Myrtle and Jean Petyarre, who are also well known artists, settled at Iylently in Central Desert. Like the majority of her sisters, she was involved in the batik movement that established the women artists of Utopia, and her works are shown in "Utopia a Picture Story – 88 silk batiks".
Violet used wood block techniques in which her Dreamings referenced were burnt into wood using hot wire and stamped onto fabric. Violet lives on Anmatjerra land with hunter-gather traditions and her paintings are inherited stories of this region. She shares the Dreamings Arnkerrthe (mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming), Annlara (Pencil Yam or Bush Medicine), Kadjeta (Grass Seed Dreaming), Engcarma (Bean), Unyara (Emu), Elaitchurunga (Small Brown Grass) and Awelye (Women's Ceremony and Body Paint) along with her sisters.
