BORN: c 1948
REGION: PAPUNYA, YAMUNTURRNGA, NORTHERN TERRITORY
LANGUAGE GROUP: WARLPIRI
Lilly Kelly Napangardi was born circa 1948 in the Haast Bluff region 325 kilometres North-West of Alice Springs. She lived at the newly established settlement of Papunya for much of her early life, relocating to Mt Liebig with her husband in the early 1980’s.
Lily originally took up painting, in her own right mid 1980, after assisting her husband Norman Kelly. She quickly established herself as an artist of note, by painting minimalistic representations of the sand hill country that surrounds Mt Liebig.
Lily is a much respected, senior law woman within the Mt Liebig community where she currently resides. She is now teaching younger women traditional dancing and singing associated with her Dreaming stories. Lilly’s paintings of country, especially the sandhills of the Kintore and Coniston areas, often depict the winds and the desert environment after rain.
Her paintings can mark the seasonal and contrasting changes in this sandy landscape, and the crucial waterholes found in the area.
Lily’s paintings find the viewer immersed in the portrayal of her country she depicts in microcosmic detail.