Utopia is located 270km northeast of Alice Springs on the eastern perimeter of the Western Desert ‘bloc’ next to the traditional land of the Eastern Anmatyarre and Alyawarre people. It was named by the first white settlers in 1927 and occupies 1800 square kilometers of desert country. It has an acris climate with low rainfall and long hot summer nights with maximum temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. The winter nights are cold with frost occurring from late May to early September. The change of seasons, Spring and Autumn are virtually non-existent, and are only marked by the appearance of wildflowers and fruits, amongst the spinifex and bush scrub.

When ‘white man’ first settled in Utopia, the Aboriginal people were forced to move away from their clan lands and ceremonial sites, and instead lived in the vicinity of the various homesteads. Many Aboriginal men worked as stockmen and Aboriginal women as domestic help in exchange for rations of foodstuffs and second hand clothing. They provided a cheap but necessary labour. It wasn’t until 1967, that legislation was passed allowing Aborigines to be paid as much as their white counterparts.

In 1979 a successful land claim hearing resulted in the community gaining permanent legal title to the leasehold, and it was the Utopia women that played a key role. Only one year before, the women had learned the art of batik, introduced by school teacher Toly Sawkeno and adult educator Jenny Green. The Batik project was to enable the women to establish a source of income in preparation for the land claim hearing. By being able to demonstrate the economic viability of the outstations through their batik, the women were justifying their legal and moral right to the land.

The Utopia batiks were immediately distinct and featured a rawness and vitality that was a product from both the camp conditions and the women’s attitude to the project.

They soon captured the eyes of various art dealers, and in 1981 Utopia batiks were shown at the Adelaide Art Festival in a major exhibition – "Floating Forests of Silk: Utopia Batik from the Desert".

In 1987 CAAMA ( The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association) took over the running and finances of the Utopia artists and in 1988 commissioned a number of batiks. Eighty-eight batiks were presented which then served as the opening exhibition at the new Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide in October 1988. The exhibition later toured to Ireland, and then it was purchased by the Robert Holmes a’ Court Collection.

In 1988 – 1989 the medium of canvas was introduced to the artists. An exhibition titled "Summer Project: Utopia Women’s Paintings" ("The First Works on Canvas") was mounted. It consisted of one hundred small canvases of all the same size and using four basic colours: black, white, yellow ochre and red ochre. This exhibition was held at SH Ervin Gallery in Sydney and immediately attracted instant attention to the inherent talent the Utopia artists possess.