Rowena grew up at Homestead in the Utopia Region, northeast of Alice Springs, and attended Akaye School (the Mulga Bore Primary School). She started her artistic career in the early 2000s, creating wood carvings of bush animals with many of the older women in her community.

Rowena began painting in 2001 for Mbantua Gallery, focusing on Awelye, the Aboriginal term for women's ceremonies. Her paintings depict the body paint, stories, dances and locations associated with these ceremonies.

Mbantua Gallery Collection, Alice Springs, NT