Bessie Nakamarra Sims was born in the bush in the 1930s and lived for many years before coming into contact with white people at Mt. Doreen Station, west of Yuendumu. She lived in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia, where she died in 2012. Bessie was the wife of Paddy Japaljarri Sims (dec), a renowned artist both nationally and internationally who painted with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation for a long time, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu. Bessie did not live in her famous husband’s shadow, for her own work has long been widely admired and collected. Bessie has seven children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.