Pauline Napangardi Gallagher was born in 1952 in Yuendumu. She attended the local school and soon after married her promised husband who is now deceased. Pauline moved to Nyirripi in 1983 and still lives there. She has five children, three sons and two daughters, and also has fifteen grandchildren. Some of her family live in Nyirripi and the rest of her family live in Yuendumu, Kintore and Papunya, Pauline’s country is Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), a sacred water hole located near Mount Doreen Station west of Yuendumu, and approximately 350 km north-west of Alice Springs.

Pauline has been painting since 2006 with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu. She paints her father’s stories – Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Pikilyi Dreaming) and Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming); Dreamings that relate to her land, its features and animals. They have been passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia. She continues to paint through the art centre when she visits Yuendumu, or when canvas, paint and brushes are dropped off in Nyirripi. Pauline loves colour and uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Aboriginal culture.