Gwenda Namatjira

Gwenda Namatjira is Lenie Namatjira’s younger sister. She was born at Hermansburg in 1955. Their father, Oscar a powerfully built man, who excelled at shot put, painted boomerangs before he began painting watercolours. He began painting a little after his older brother, Enos, and by 1945 was quite successful. His painting, at various times, show the influence of his father and that of Otto Pareroultja, whose flamboyant decorative rhythmic style was extremely distinctive. Gwenda was only an infant when, in 1957 (two years before his death), her grandfather, Albert Namatjira, became a ‘citizen’ by being excluded from the NT register of ‘full blood’ wards. She has strong memories of her father painting. He initially learnt to paint at school and his now learning from Lenie.