Iwana Ken

Date of birth: 1937
Language group: Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia

Iwana was born in the bush at Walytjitjatja, at the tri state border of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. She lived a traditional life with her family before moving to the Ernabella mission as a teenager. Her mother is from Kanpi and her father’s country is Puta Puta near Pipalyatjara. Her father had two wives, as was common among traditional people and together they had eight children. Iwana has recently moved back to Kanpi after spending many years living at Fregon community. She lives in Kanpi with her daughter and two great grandchildren.

Iwana lived and worked at Fregon for many years with Kaltjiti Arts and several of her designs have been made into rugs for the collaborative culture project with artisans from Kashmir.

Artworks