Dorothy Napangardi, who achieved a record price for the resale of her art during the resale royalty debate, died in a car accident on the weekend. She and others had been hunting for honey ants after the rains. Tragically one of the children in the car has died also. Dorothy was 55.
The daughter of a lawgiver, Dorothy grew up at Yuendumu in the Tanami Desert, where she received little schooling but was instructed in the Dreaming of her ancestors.
After being awarded some minor prizes for her art, Dorothy went on to win the 18th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award for her work, Salt on Mina Mina, in 2001.
As an acclaimed artist her artworks were exhibited nationally and internationally.
Dorothy Napangardi’s art is held in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Queensland Museum, the Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica in the US, the Kaplan-Levi Collection, Seattle, US, the Vroom Collection in the Netherlands and the Linden-Museum at Stuttgart.
She will be sadly missed.
