Rachel Morris Namitja

Rachel was born in Darwin in 1963. Her mother was a Warrumunga woman from near Tennant Creek and her father and stepfather were both Warlpiri men. Her mother and stepfather worked on Cattle Creek and Jinparrak (old Wave Hill) cattle stations. Rachel’s mother was a cleaner on the station, sitting down and scrubbing floors. Rachel was a three-year-old girl at the time of the Wave Hill Walk-off and was carried by her older sister, Helen, as they walked to the Victoria River. After the Wave Hill Walk-off, Rachel’s parents moved to Lajamanu where her mother taught in the school. They stayed for a while and then moved back to Kalkarindji Welfare Settlement where Rachel still lives.
Rachael has been painting most of her adult life since she started with a Community Development Employment Program. Rachel has been a member and Director of Karungkarni Art since it incorporated in 2011. She has exhibited at the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair; the World Indigenous Network Conference in Darwin 2013; was artist-in-residence at Songlines Gallery, Woodford Folk Festival; and exhibited at Megalo Printmaking Studio, Canberra, as part of the 100 Years’ Anniversary of Canberra, 2013. In 2015, Rachel was one of nine artists/artworkers selected from across the Top End to participate in ANKA’s Art Worker Extension Program (AWEP).