Artist | Pauline Napangardi Gallagher

Pauline Napangardi Gallagher (1952 - 2023) was born in Yuendumu.

Pauline’s country was Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), a sacred water hole located near Mount Doreen Station west of Yuendumu and approximately 350 km north-west of Alice Springs. Since 2006, Pauline painted in a remote Aboriginal community, 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia.

She painted her father’s stories – Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Pikilyi Dreaming) and Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming), Dreaming’s that related to her land, its features, and animals. They were passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia. Pauline loved colour and used an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Aboriginal culture.

She went to the local school in Yuendumu and soon after married her promised husband who is also deceased. Pauline moved to Nyirripi in 1983 and lived there till 2023. She had five children, three sons and two daughters; she also had fifteen grandchildren.

ORIGINAL ARTWORK AVAILABLE HERE