Hermannsburg Days

Beth Mbitjana Inkamala is currently chairperson of Hermannsburg Potters Aboriginal Corporation, employed as an arts worker at the art centre, is completing studies at the Batchelor Institute, and shows a strong interest in improving the art centre and her local community. The niece of potter and watercolourist Clara Inkamala and the granddaughter of leading potter Judith Inkamala, Beth is an ambitious potter, blending old styles of pottery with contemporary creative approaches to her painting.

Hermannsburg Days 2019 provides an insight into how the layout of Ntaria (Hermannsburg) has changed since she was a child, noting where families used to live in areas around town and their absence in the present community. She is drawing attention to leisure activities such as horse riding and playing with old tyres and basketballs. She paints with specificity, locating her uncle’s ute and Smokey Dolsen, as he chops fire wood with his three nieces Amelia, Loretta and Susan. The detail in which she documents these memories is sentimental and joyful.

In 2017 Beth was judged finalist for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards at the Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory. In addition, she was also awarded finalist in the Desart Photography Prize. She has exhibited in over 20 group exhibitions, has previously been commissioned for work by the Tangentyere Council, and her work has been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria.