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Pansy Napangardi was born at Haasts Bluff in the late 1940s during the early years of mission settlement. Pansy is of Luritja/Warlpiri descent. Her father and grandfather were Warlpiri tribesmen and were born at Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), west of Papunya. Pansy learnt the Dreamings of her father's country from the artist Rennie Robinson. These are: Bush Banana, Water Snake, Marlu (Kangaroo), Cockatoo, Bush Mangoes and Willy Wagtail. Her mother, who was a Luritja, was born at the site of Illpili. Pansy’s mother's cousin taught her the Dreamings from her mother's side of the family: Seven Sisters, Hail, Desert Raisin and Kungkakutjara (Two Women). Pansy was moved with the settlement to Papunya in the early 1960s. It was there that she observed the start of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement in 1971-2, including older artists like Johnny Warangkula and Kaapa Tjampitjinpa who are now considered masters of the movement. From this, she began to develop her own style. Pansy recalls her grandmother and grandfather telling her stories about her Dreamings and also showing her how to depict them by drawing them in the sand. She practiced on paper and later used her designs to do collages comprised of glue and the ininti seeds from which the women usually made necklaces. Unlike other women artists now associated with Papunya Tula Artists, she did not serve an apprenticeship by working up to the 80's on the paintings of her male relatives. She began working for herself from the early 70's. The resources of Papunya Tula Artists at this time were exclusively the province of the senior initiated men who began the painting enterprise. Pansy independently sold her works in Alice Springs. She worked in this manner for about five years followed by a long break. In 1983 she resumed painting, working for Papunya Tula Artists. During the late 80's she emerged as Papunya Tula's pre-eminent woman painter at Papunya Tula, winning the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) in 1989. Her work was included in the company's display at the 1988 Brisbane Expo and also featured on the cover of ‘The Inspired Dream’ catalogue of a major survey of Aboriginal Art shown at the same time at the Queensland Art Gallery. She also had two solo exhibitions. The first one was at the Sydney Opera House in September 1988 promoted by the Centre for Aboriginal Artists (for whom she still paints for occasionally). The second showing occurred at the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in Melbourne in May 1989 promoted by Papunya Tula Artists. In 1989 she won the sixth National Aboriginal Art Award. She showed again at the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in late 1991 and also in Brisbane with Eunice Napangardi in early 1992. Her work has appeared in several major surveys of Aboriginal art, including 'Mythscapes' at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1989 and 'Karnta', a show of Aboriginal women's work at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1991. She has continued to exhibit widely through the 1990s and 2000s. She has a son and four other adopted children, the youngest of whom she now lives with in Alice Springs. Pansy attends literacy classes at IAD with many of the other women from the Tjukurrpa group of women artists in Alice Springs. Her sister Alice Napangardi is married to well-known artist Dinny Nolan and lives in Papunya. Her younger brother Brogas Tjapangati also paints for the Papunya Tula Artists and the Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery.
