Lily Kelly Napangardi was born around 1948, in Haasts Bluff, Northern Australia, before moving to the established settlement of Papunya in the 1960’s. It was there that she first encountered Aboriginal artistic practice as an assistant to her husband, Norman Kelly – it was not until Napangardi and her husband returned to Mount Liebig in the early 1980’s, that she began painting herself. Napangardi’s paintings are a bird’s eye depiction of her country’s sand hills and the effects that the winds and rain have on them. Her paintings capture the extensive undulating country, and suggest the shifting nature of the desert sand dunes. Napangardi creates her work using minimal colour, concentrating on the contrast she achieves using white dotting on a black background. The dots vary in size and intensity, creating a shimmer effect that denies any attempt at making a solid and changeless structure in a desert landscape. Her paintings aslo refer to the Women’s Dreaming story from Kunajarrayi, and to the terrain around the Kintore and Coniston areas. Lily has established her place as a senior law woman in her community, teaching the younger women in the traditional ceremonies associated with her Dreaming. While Lily Kelly Napangardi presents the finest microcosmic details in her paintings, she embeds these into a macrocosmic aerial view of her country. Standing in front of her paintings, the viewer can sense something of the immersive experience of her country.
In 2003, Lilly Kelly Napangardi won the General Painting category at the 20th Telstra Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Awards.
In 2006, Napangardi was named as one of Australia’s 50 most collectable artists by Australia Art Collector Magazine.
Collections
Musée du Quai Branly, Paris
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, USA
Gallery Anthony Curtis, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
The Thomas Vroom Collection, Amsterdam
Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Art Gallery of South Australia. Adelaide
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
The Kerry Stokes Collection
Artbank, Sydney