Vincent Namatjira was born in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Northern Territory, and his early years were spent between Mparntwe and Ntaria (Hermannsburg). He is the great-grandson of renowned Western Aranda watercolourist Albert Namatjira, and has forged his own path by establishing himself as a witty and subversive portraitist. Since 2013, Vincent has been painting portraits of important figures, both personally familiar and famously political, with his paintings offering a wry look at the politics of history, power and leadership from a contemporary Aboriginal perspective. Since 2011 Vincent has been painting at Iwantja Arts in South Australia's Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Vincent was the winner of the 2019 Ramsay Art Prize at the Art Gallery of South Australia. In 2020 he was the first Indigenous artist to win the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2020 in honour of his contribution to Indigenous visual arts. He has been a finalist in many major art prizes including the John Fries Award, the National Self-Portrait Prize and the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.