Vincent Namatjira OAM might be in danger of loving Paris too much.
"I think I'm getting addicted to the baguettes and the croissants," he tells NITV.
The acclaimed artist is in the city for the first time.
His metropolitan surrounds are a far cry from the Western Arrernte landscapes of his home, alive with beauty of a different kind.
Despite his initial nerves at the scale of the city, he has come to feel at home.
"I like the architecture, the streets ... the bridges and just the roofs, looking at the top of all the roofs, and all the beautiful trees everywhere," he says.
"I'm loving it very much."
Namatjira has been exploring colonial depictions of First Nations peoples, with his new exhibition countering those historical perceptions.
Delivered in partnership with Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, the galang residency supports First Nations creatives with a stay at the renowned artists' complex in the centre of Paris.
Namatjira has been creating works in an atelier on site, alongside fellow galang resident Jarra Karalinar Steel.
A new series of paintings produced during his stay will form part of Namatjira's first solo international exhibition, due to open later this month at the Ames Yavuz Gallery in London.
Part of Namatjira's residency has been to examine depictions of First Nations peoples in French colonial art.
The regally styled King Dingo, says Namatjira, is a counter to those historical depictions, whose presumptions remain all too alive.
Vincent Namatjira's King Dingo projected on to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney as part of Vivid Festival earlier this year. Credit: Don Arnold/WireImage
"The works are going to be like a royal tour," he says.
Namatjira knows something about royalty; he's a descendent of artistic royalty, the painting luminary Albert Namatjira, his great-grandfather.
The elder Namatjira, famous for his watercolour landscapes of the Western Arrernte Country that was his ancestral home, was awarded the Coronation Medal by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 for his services to art.
His example is still an inspiration for his great-grandson, as is their mutual Country.
"Particularly the landscapes ... that style is the Western Arrernte, also from the Old Man, my grandfather, Albert.
"He is a role model, and he is a pretty awesome influence for me today."
There's a bit of both Namatjiras in King Dingo.
"King Dingo is for me and represents me and my career and my life, my culture ... the royalty is also to do with Albert receiving the Coronation [Medal] from the late Queen.
"He's got this look that reminds me of myself, with my humour and my wittiness.
"I like to paint with humour. When people look at my work there's always a big grin on their face. I'm just loving it."
Not everyone has seen the humour in Namatjira's work.
When it emerged last year that mining magnate Gina Rinehart (and others on her behalf) had requested the National Gallery remove two of Namatjira's portraits of her, it made international headlines.
The gallery declined the request, but news of a multi-billionaire demanding an artwork be removed from a national institution because she deemed it unflattering captured people's attention.
For his part, Namatjira says the portraits were just another depiction of power and influence, a recurring theme in his work.
"The reason why I did that painting of her is because she is one of the richest person in Australia, and she makes a big mess with her mining," he says.
"She took it her own way."
While frustrated by the intense media focus on the furore, it certainly hasn't discouraged the painter from his work depicting and questioning power, and who wields it.
"It's a reversal of colonial history. We were living in the bush 90,000 years ago, in the wild, under the stars, until the ship came out of the sea.
"[Power] was taken away from us ... we were taken over at that time.
"I want [people] to look at my works and say 'This is an Aboriginal perspective,'" he says.
With the London exhibition approaching, Namatjira says he tries not to think of home too much, as it makes him emotional.
But despite this, and his obvious love for the European capital that his been his home for a few months, he says there's no risk of him making it his permanent base.
"It's too flash, it's too beautiful. I'm a wild man!"
'King Dingo' by Vincent Namatjira OAM runs 12 September – 4 October 2025 at Ames Yavuz Gallery in London.
