Ena Fly

Ena Fly was born at the Haasts Bluff creek bed in 1957. Her mother, Marlee Napurrula was born at Kungayunti (Brown’s Bore outstation). When Ena was a baby, her mother carried her into Haasts Bluff where she then grew up and spent her life. Ena’s father, Long Tom Tjapanangka, a

Pintupi/Ngaatjatjarra man, was born somewhere near his father’s country of Lupul (Frederick Range). Both Marlee and Long Tom began painting at Ikuntji Women’s Centre in 1993. Long Tom and his second wife, Mitjili Napurrula, also painted at Ikuntji Artists – all becoming highly acclaimed artists. Ena has one sister, who now works in Alice Springs, and a brother who has passed away. Ena grew up at Haasts Bluff, watching her parents paint. She attended primary school at Haast Bluff. Ena met her husband Phillip Lane in the late 1990s. The two have since lived between Haasts Bluff and Papunya.

Ena paints Lupul (Frederick Range) country, the Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) and country from her grandfather on her father’s side, the same Tjukurrpa that Long Tom often painted and his place of birth. Ena only started painting her mother’s story once Marlee had passed away. Her mother had given her the right to paint it prior. She also only started painting her father’s story in 2018, long after her father’s passing and him passing the story onto her. Nobody paints her father’s story like she does. In 2022, Ena participated in design workshops at Ikuntji Artists and developed her first fabric-by-the-metre design.