Paddy Stewart Tjapaltjarri

Paddy Stewart Tjapaltjarri is an Australian artist of aboriginal origin born in 1940 in Mungapunju, south of Yuendumu and died in 2013. In 1971, he contributed to the “Honey Ant Dreaming” mural painted on the wall of the Papunya school and considered a genesis of the aboriginal modern art movement. Paddy also worked at the Yuendumu School, teaching important cultural traditions (including painting, wax making for sand painting, boomerang making, and dancing) to both aboriginal and non-aboriginal children. In 1983, with other initiated artists, Paddy painted his dreams on twenty of the thirty-six doors of the Yuendumu school. In 1988, Paddy and five other Yuendumu artists were chosen by the Power Gallery of the University of Sydney to travel to Paris to create a floor painting for the “Magicians of the Earth” exhibition at the Center Georges Pompidou. The painting receives acclaim from all over the world. In 2000 with Paddy Sims, Paddy Stewart Tjapaltjarri also undertook the production of 30 engravings representing the doors of Yuendumu. His works have been exhibited in Australia, the USA, France and Germany.