Paddy Lewis was born in the late 1920s west of Mt. Doreen and Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. In the mid-1950s, Paddy and his family were forcibly relocated to the settlement of Yuendumu in accordance with the government’s assimilation program. Unable and unwilling to adapt to their new lifestyle, the family moved back into the desert. Not long after their ‘escape’, they were again rounded up and brought back to Yuendumu.
Paddy was an elder from the Warlpiri language group. His traditional country lies north west of Nyirripi, approximately 500 kilometers from Alice Springs. This area is a remarkably flat, allowing a view as far as the eye can see for a full 360 degrees. This environment shaped not only Paddy's sense of self but also his visual and therefore artistic consciousness.
Paddy was a tribal custodian for the site referred to as Mina Mina salt lake which is also painted by his daughters Dorothy Napangardi and Margaret Lewis Napangardi. He started painting for the Warlukurlangu Arts Centre in the 1980s. His traditional style for depicting the iconography associated with the Mina Mina dreaming site has provided a close historical record of the designs used for the traditional sand mosaics during tribal ceremonies.
Paddy Lewis Tjapanangka passed away in 2010.