When she was nineteen, Unurupa started working full time at Ernabella Anangu School. She acquired a Bachelor of Education through the Anangu Territory Education Program (AnTEP) and taught preschool for over three decades. She first started painting at Ernabella Arts during the 2013 school holidays.
In 2015 she retired from the school and started working full-time as an artist, and her work has since been exhibited many times both nationally and internationally.
Unurupa worked alongside her sister Amanda Kulyuru and aunt Imiyari Adamson. Her father, Graham Kulyuru, is a gifted timber craftsman, spear-maker and ceramic artist.
Unurupa was also a gifted language teacher and translator. Every year in January she taught the Pitjantjatjara Summer School through the University of South Australia. Unurupa passed away in 2022.
