Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy

Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy (born c. 1926) is a Walpiri and Anmatyerre-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. One of the first Indigenous women artists to paint in acrylics, her work has been exhibited at major galleries around Australia, and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1994 for services to the Yuendumu community.

Life Lucy Napaljarri Kennedy was born circa 1926. The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous Australians operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events.

'Napaljarri' (in Warlpiri) or 'Napaltjarri' (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian Indigenous people. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans. Thus 'Lucy Kennedy' is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers.

Lucy is a senior woman of the community at Yuendumu, Northern Territory and, as well as being a working artist, Lucy has been a member of Yuendumu community council.

Art

Background Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began when Indigenous men at Papunya began painting in 1971, assisted by teacher Geoffrey Bardon. Their work, which used acrylic paints to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures, rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia, particularly following the commencement of a government-sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983. By the 1980s and 1990s, such work was being exhibited internationally. The first artists, including all of the founders of the Papunya Tula artists' company, had been men, and there was resistance amongst the Pintupi men of central Australia to women painting. However, there was also a desire amongst many of the women to participate, and in the 1990s large numbers of them began to create paintings. In the western desert communities such as Kintore, Yuendumu, Balgo, and on the outstations, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale.

As well as painting, Lucy Kennedy has also worked as a printmaker, creating works with the Northern Australia Print Workshop in 2003. These works were titled miinypa jukurrpa, or native red fuchsia dreaming, and examples are held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

Works by Lucy have been collected by the National Gallery of Victoria, and the National Gallery of Australia, which holds a 2003 print by Lucy, miinypa jukurrpa [Native red fuchsia dreaming].

Collections Art Gallery of South Australia Australian Museum Museum of Mankind, British Museum Flinders University Art Museum Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie National Gallery of Australia National Gallery of Victoria South Australian Museum