Phyllis Ningamara / Water Lilies

Phyllis grew up at Ivanhoe Station, where her parents cooked and kept house, and later cooked for the stock camps herself. Family holidays were spent at Argyle Station until the Ord River Dam flooded it. Only after raising her children did she pick up a brush, sharing a Kununurra home for many years with her sister, fellow painter Nancy Dilyai.

Working in natural pigments, she became known for bright, carefully mixed colour, often changing ochres by burning them. Her canvases trace rivers, springs and bands of Gerany, the coloured stones of the river flats, alongside the bush foods of Miriwoong Country. Her standing as a senior traditional owner led the Miriuwung Gajerrong Corporation to ask her to design its logo. Her work is held by the National Gallery of Australia, Parliament House and Artbank. Phyllis passed away in 2018.