Lilly Kelly Napangardi

Lily Kelly Napangardi was born in the Haasts Bluff region of the Northern Territory of Australia.

In her earlier years, Lily lived with her family at the settlement of Papunya, but later moved to Watiyawanu (Mount Liebig – 325 km west of Alice Springs) with her husband Norman Kelly, also an artist. Lily is a respected senior law woman of her community of Watiyawanu, and the custodian over the women’s Dreamtime stories associated with Kunajarrayi.

Lily Kelly Napangardi began painting in the early 1980s. She won the Northern Territory Art Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Painting in 1986 and was a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) in 2003.

Lilly’s paintings are of her country, especially of the sand hills (Tali) around Mount Liebig.

Lilly often comes to visit family and friends in Papunya and sits to paint at Papunya Tjupi Art Centre.