Kelly Taylor

"I BELONG TO THE ANTIKIRINYA-YANKUNYTJATJARA | KOKATHA PEOPLE.''

My Name is Kelly Taylor

I am an Aboriginal Artist of KT Aboriginal Fine Art, I belong to the Yankunytjatjara people on my grandmother's side and Kokatha people on my grandfathers side. My grandmother is Millie Taylor but she was a Lennon before she got married. My grandfather is Edgar Dingaman.

Camping Out Bush

All us kids would gather firesticks and help nana make the campfire before sunset ready for bedtime, then we would have a feed then jump into the swag and listen to nana tell us stories until we fell asleep, sometimes when it’s a full moon we would fall asleep watching the moonlight just beautiful. Today I share these special moments with my daughter's and on canvas.

My favourite memory about growing out bush is when I sat with my grandmother and we would sit and watch the blue rain and just recently I created my first ever large painting of the 'Big Blue Rain' that also represents the lightning Dreaming a story shared to me by my grandmother during these beautiful rainy days and nights.

I also have a collaboration piece titled 'Ayres Rock' with my nephew Beaver Lennon who is very talented himself and I am so grateful he was able to add a few touches to this piece with me now I can keep it in my own personal collection.

Living in Coober Pedy

All us kids would gather firesticks and help nana make the campfire before sunset ready for bedtime, then we would have a feed then jump into the swag and listen to nana tell us stories until we fell asleep, sometimes when it’s a full moon we would fall asleep watching the moonlight just beautiful. Today I share these special moments with my daughter's and on canvas.

My favourite memory about growing out bush is when I sat with my grandmother and we would sit and watch the blue rain and just recently I created my first ever large painting of the 'Big Blue Rain' that also represents the lightning Dreaming a story shared to me by my grandmother during these beautiful rainy days and nights.

I also have a collaboration piece titled 'Ayres Rock' with my nephew Beaver Lennon who is very talented himself and I am so grateful he was able to add a few touches to this piece with me now I can keep it in my own personal collection.

Kelly Taylor with her Grandmother, Mum, Aunty, Uncles & First cousins travelling to Ayres Rock (Uluru).

Kelly Taylor with her first cousins at her grandmother's homeland Windu-Windu just out of Ernabella.

Boomerangs hand painted by Kelly Taylor and her grandmother Millie Taylor (nee lennon deceased)

An Art Gallery owner approached my grandmother and asked her if and her family can paint a box of 30 boomerangs every couple of months, my grandmother was more than happy to paint these boomerangs but at a fair price as she had a big family to support, I used to help my grandmother paint these boomerangs and they got more and more popular but during this time my oldest brother fell ill and we had to move to Port Augusta so my brother could be close to a dialysis machine.

Ayres Rock (Uluru) is where I travelled with my grandmother, we would camp overnight or for a few days to catch up with family, during our stay my grandmother would join her sisters in Inma (ceremony) and take all her daughters and granddaughters to listen and learn about culture. Then a few days later we return home to Windu Windu this is my grandmother's homeland just another side Ernabella, this is where I lived and went to school with my older cousins for a few years.

Living on the APY Lands

Every morning we would drive into Indulkana for the family to get to work and school and I would go with my nana and sit with her to paint at the Iwantja Arts Centre, after a while, I started to go to the arts centre myself and paint when the arts centre closed me and cousins, we would go down to the Indulkana creek and take all our little cousins with us and dig up wild bush onions along the creek beds we used to have so much fun hunting and gathering traditional foods, playing and rolling down beautiful red sandhills.

We moved around a lot from Alice Springs to Ernabella, Fregon then to Indulkana and just out of Indulkana my grandmother showed me the old brick ruins and she showed me exactly where she was born out bush.

I moved around a lot with my nana from Alice Springs to Ernabella, Fregon then to Indulkana, before she settled down on a small property, she named Wantjabella just out of Indulkana this is where my nana was born and one afternoon, she took me for a walk and showed me the old ruin where she was born out bush, I will never forget this day, it was amazing to see where my nana was born. My mum Loraine (dec) worked at the Indulkana store, and my mum's third oldest brother Darryl (dec) & his wife Audrey worked at the health and my mum's oldest brother Sammy (dec) worked at the Community Work Shed.

Living in Port Augusta

Over the years we started travelling again this time to Coober Pedy and nana travelled back and forth every couple of months until my mum's brother Darryl moved there with his family and nana and mum decided to move too.

I stayed in Indulkana and lived with my uncle Andrew Dingamen for a couple of years and I started working at the school while I was still painting at the Arts Centre after a few years I moved away from

Indulkana to Port Augusta where I travelled to live and support my nana.

Living in Ceduna

While living in Port Augusta I travelled with nana to Ceduna to have Christmas with mums brother Malcolm Taylor (dec) and his family for Christmas after that I started travelling back and forth a few times with my cousin during this time I met my partner Trevor Ware and we had three beautiful daughters and I lived in Ceduna for the last 20+ years, I did a painting recently that represents 'Desert Meets Sea', it's about myself meeting my partner Trevor who comes from the sea and meets a desert girl and we have a family and travel the country together. Today me and my little family travel back home once in a while to catch up with family and see how everyone's going then I travel back to Ceduna, once I'm back home I start painting again with my daughter's. Painting helps me to relax, so I don't stress and worry but it also keeps me and my family connected to our culture and beautiful country.