Born in 1940, Jean Baptiste lived and created on Bathurst Island; the Western Isle of the Tiwi Islands, far North in the Northern Territory. Her Skin Group was Tapatapunga, the March Fly.
Tiwi Designs, the community owned Art Centre on Bathurst Island stated:
“Jean Baptiste Apuatimi was a senior Tiwi Island artist who recreated and interpreted body painting designs used in Tiwi Ceremony. “I love my painting, I love doing it. My husband, Declan Apuatimi taught me to paint.
Jean Baptiste Apuatimi’s career spanned almost four decades, and her work can be seen in galleries across Australia, as well as in the United States and Europe.
Tim Hill, Tiwi Designs long-time art coordinator said of Jean Baptiste “She painted with such honesty, such truety to culture, I think she kept it alive, I think she conveyed it through her mastery in her brushstoke … her internal honesty shows in every painting she’s ever done.”