Barbara Weir was born in 1945 at what was formerly known as Bundy River Station in the region of Utopia, 240 km northeast of Alice Springs. Her country is Atnwengerrp and her language is Anmatyerre and Alyawarr. Barbara's mother is Aboriginal and her father is Irish, and because she was a child of mixed parentage she was taken away from her family at the age of nine. During these years she lost contact with her family but was determined to return and re-claim her heritage.

In the late 1960s she finally returned to Utopia with her six children, to be reunited with the famous late Emily Kame Kngwarreye who had looked after her as a small child. She began to re-learn the languages of her people. Through her renewed special relationship with Emily Kngwarreye, Barbara's talent and interest in art was encouraged and began to flourish.

Barbara Weir's Dreamings are: Bush Berry, Grass Seed, Wild Flower and My Mother's Country, which she paints with an explosive mixture of Aboriginal spirituality and modern white culture. She is represented in major private and public collections including the Holmes a Court Collection and the Art Gallery of South Australia.