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.
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