Who is Lily Kelly Napangardi?

Lily Kelly Napangardi (born c. 1948) is a distinguished Aboriginal artist born in the Haasts Bluff region of the Northern Territory of Australia.

In her earlier years, Napangardi lived following her associates at the agreement of Papunya, but difficult moved to Watiyawanu (Mount Liebig – 325 km west of Alice Springs) (with her husband Norman Kelly, also an artist). Napangardi is a venerated senior law girl of her community of Watiyawanu, and the custodian higher than the Women’s Dreamtime stories associated with Kunajarrayi.

Lily Kelly Napangardi began painting in the in advance 1980s. She won the Northern Territory Art Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Painting in 1986 and was a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) in 2003. In January 2006, she was named as one of Australia’s 50 most collectable artists by Australian Art Collector magazine.

Napangardi’s paintings are of her country, especially of the sand hills (Tali) around Mount Liebig. They are usually curtains in white (sometimes, red or yellow) dots on black background, presenting an approximately three-dimensional illusion of look and depth. Some rarer examples of her proceed are painted in two colours (mainly white and red) on black background. Today Lily Kelly Napangardi’s art is recognised as some of the most enlightened in the contemporary Aboriginal art scene. It is deeply sought-after by museums and private collectors worldwide.

Her broadcast is sometimes incorrectly spelt ‘Lilly’, with double L, but the performer signs her sham as ‘LILY Kelly’.