Born: c1948 Haasts Bluff NT
Language: Warlpiri
Country: Watiyawanu
Region: Mt Liebig NT

Lilly moved to the newly established settlement of Papunya in the 1960s. During her time there, Lilly began painting, notably assisting with works by her husband Norman Kelly. Her distinctive patterning often refers to the winds and the desert environment after rain and the crucial waterholes found in the area. Lilly usually paints drifting impressions of her country, especially the sandhills (Tali) adjacent to Kintore. The minimalist effect and ephemeral nature of these repetitious designs have enthused many collectors and curators, with notable works entering various private and public collections, including the Queensland Art Gallery/GoMA.

EXHIBITIONS-SELECTED
2009 Tali (Sandhills) Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
2005 Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2004 Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
Graham Marshall Gallery, Adelaide
2003 Neil Murphy Indigenous Art Showing, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
NATSIAA Telstra Awards, Darwin
2000-2003 Desert Mob Show, Alice Springs
Span Galleries, Melbourne
2000 Graham Marshall Gallery, Adelaide
2002 NATSIAA Telstra Awards, Darwin
1999 Desert Mob Show, Alice Springs
AWARDS
2003 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.
1986 Northern Territory Art Award.
COLLECTIONS
Musée du quai Branly, Paris
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica
Gallery Anthony Curtis, Cambridge, MA
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 the Northern Territory, Darwin
The Kerry Stokes Collection
The Holmes à Court Collection, Perth
Artbank, Sydney