Angela Kelly

Angela Kelly, skin name Nangala and nickname Parlinjirri, was born in 1954 at Lansdowne station, near the Bungle Bungles, Kimberley region, in Western Australia. Both her parents worked on the station and were paid in flour, sugar and tea rations, which, at the time, was the currency for Indigenous employees.

Parlinjirri began painting on canvas around the year 2000 as a means of extending and sharing her knowledge of traditional Warlpiri culture. She has developed a distinctive artistic style, utilising rich textures and colours, overlaid with fine dots to tell the stories of her Jukurrpa (Dreaming).

With artworks exhibited around Australia and internationally in Paris, France, Parlinjirri has broadened her knowledge of the world and contemporary art. She is widely read, and has a great understanding of the history of Lajamanu settlement and Warlpiri culture. For a number of years, she acted as chairperson of Warnayaka Art, and used her understanding of the Warlpiri and Western worlds to support the art centre to flourish.

Parlinjirri now lives in Darwin for medical reasons, though continues to visit Lajamanu when her health allows it.