Rowena grew up at Homestead in the Utopia Region, North East of Alice Springs. She attended Akaye School (the Mulga Bore Primary School). First beginning her artistic career in the early 00's with wood carvings of bush animals alongside many of the older ladies in her community, Rowena did her first paintings in 2001 for Mbantua Gallery. She paints Awelye which is the Aboriginal term used to describe women's ceremony; the body paint, the story, the dancing and location.