Biography:
'My family comes from the Kings Canyon area - Ulpanyali outstation. I did a big mob of paintings at Kings Canyon and sold them to tourists from Germany. I did ranger training at Kings Canyon and worked as a tour guide there. We painted a mural at the clinic at Kings Canyon'.
Gwen was educated in Darwin at Nightcliff Primary and High schools, before returning to Watarrka. Gwen has painted independently and with Tangentyere Artists since 2006. She explains:
'Now I am living and painting in town. I worked at the Community Centre at Karnte [Town] Camp, and now work with the Tangentyere Women's Family Safety Group. I love participating in different kinds of arts activities like printing, ceramics and painting, and working for Aboriginal people.'
Gwen participated in creating a mural at the Karnte Town Camp Community Centre in 2013. She has participated in a wide range of projects at Tangentyere Artists over the years, including the Selfies project with both paintings and prints on paper during which Tangentyere Artists partnered with Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, and a ceramics project during which Tangentyere Artists partnered with Charles Darwin University. Gwen has also served as an elected member of the Tangentyere Council Board of Directors.
Gwen's painting style is scrupulously neat and ordered. Through repetition with minor variation, Gwen creates a compelling pattern on the canvas, rather like a mandala that tends to mesmerise her audience. She has been collected by Ian Thorpe. Gwen's patterns reminded him of Moorish artworks he had seen in his travels around the Mediterranean.
Gwen's works feature those Tjukurrpa that span her Country, including bush tucker, bush flowers, and bush medicine. Although she lives in Alice Springs, she regularly visits home, and holds her beloved Watarrka region dear to her heart.
