Minyawe is a Warnman man born at Yilyara, a yinta [permanent spring] located on the border of Punmu and immediately east of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora). Minyawe grew up in the Kulyakartu and Karlamilyi (Rudall River) regions with his sister Kanu (Karnu) Nancy Taylor (dec.) and their extended family.
As a young man, Minyawe lived a pujiman [traditional, desert dwelling] lifestyle and walked long distances carrying only his jangi [smouldering stick] and his jurna [hunting stick]. By the 1960s the last of the Western Desert pujimanpa [desert dwellers] had relocated to Jigalong, Marble Bar, Nullagine and Port Hedland. Minyawe and his family collectively decided to walk in from the desert, and after travelling hundreds of kilometres they were finally collected by a truck that drove them to Jigalong Mission.
Later, at Strelley Station, Minyawe worked building roads and running the station. He relocated with his family to Punmu as a foundational community member during the 1980s Return to Country movement, living there for many years before moving between Newman and Port Hedland.
Minyawe paints great stretches of his Country in a very distinctive, precise style, creating beautiful undulations of linear forms using a limited range of mark making and colour.
Photograph by Tobias Titz.