Anita van Wyk
Artist
Anita van Wyk
Location
Namibia
Creating
Painting
Anita Van Wyk is a Namibian, San visual artist and single mother in her early thirties. Her practice is grounded in cultural continuity, creativity, and care. Her work reflects a commitment to providing for her family while inspiring younger generations to remain connected to their heritage through artistic expression.
Anita has participated in numerous workshops with Omba Arts Trust, and her work has been exhibited in both Namibia and Australia. Her paintings are marked by a confident, intuitive artistic touch, translating lived experience and cultural memory into visual form. Her imagery has also been adapted for textile production, extending her work beyond the canvas and into everyday life.
Through her practice, Anita contributes to a living artistic lineage — one that bridges tradition and contemporary expression while affirming art as both livelihood and legacy.
Proud Mary acquired this original piece through Omba Arts Trust, an organization that since 2002 has traveled to remote Namibian resettlement farms to support and work alongside emerging San artists.
The San people are recognized as one of the most enduring human populations in history, with cultural roots dating back more than 20,000 years. Yet their voices have often been overshadowed by the forces of modern politics and displacement.
Art has become one of the most powerful mediums through which San artists articulate both ancestral knowledge and contemporary reality. The imagery in this work reflects generations of hunting and gathering traditions, alongside the artists’ transition into a world vastly different from that of their ancestors.
Today, many San communities live on resettlement farms across regions including Omaheke, Ohangwena, Bwabwata, and Tsumkwe—far from their traditional habitats.
