Angkaliya Nelson

Angkaliya Nelson was born in 1960 at the Ernabella Mission in Pukatja, South Australia. She later grew up in Amata, where she met her husband and had two children. During the late 1970s and the “Homeland Movement”, Angkaliya and her family made the move west to Pipalyatjara to be closer to her traditional home lands. She continues to live in Pipalyatjara today.

Angkaliya is a highly skilled craftswoman and artist. Like many other Anangu women, she has learnt the craft of ‘punu’ (wood carving and burning) and ‘tjanpi’ (grass weaving). In all of her crafts, including her modern dot work paintings, Angkaliya draws influence from ‘Mamungara’ and ‘Kungkarrakalpa Tjukurpa’, Seven Sisters Dreamtime stories.