A painter from Indulkana in South Australia, Vincent Namatjira has established himself as a subversive and witty portraitist. Vincent is the great-grandson of the renowned Western Aranda watercolour artist Albert Namatjira. Since 2013, Vincent has been painting portraits of important figures, both personally familiar and famously political. He is an acute observer of national and international politics and the connections between leadership, wealth, power and influence.

Bold, painterly and conceptually rich, Vincent Namatjira’s work has gained significant recognition in Australia and abroad. Namatjira’s imagery calls on Australia’s colonial history, with recurring references to Captain Cook, the British Royal family and contemporary aspects of Indigenous life. Namatjira simultaneously channels his own personal history, inserting himself (via a recurring self-portrait) into the narrative of his often humorous compositions, which conflate past and present into compelling scenarios.

Vincent Namatjira was the winner of the 2019 Ramsay Art Prize. In 2020 Namatjira was the first Indigenous artist to win the Archibald Prize, and was recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) 2020 in honour of his contribution to Indigenous visual arts.