11593999205

Published by CompNet Systems on September 6, 2024

Status: Stock

Desert Choir Tote by Judith Inkamala

I was choir lady before, with Lily and David, we went everywhere for singing. Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney. We travelled a lot with choir. Then I retired, too much coughing. The last time i sang with the choir was at Ross River, when Morris was conductor. Then I left that choir. I sometimes help the choir for candle light time and funeral. The Desert choir went everywhere, Germany, America, they have travelled all around Australia. Alice Springs Desert Mob Show they sing too. Singing when they are sitting down on their knees, clapping and listening to conductor. Here on my pot is Areyonga choir, singing in the cave in Pitjantjatjara language. Aranda, Pitjantjatjara and English singing. Ntaria and Areyonga sing together – three languages, all singing together.

– Judith Pungkarta Inkamala

This unique tote’s design was drawn from the ceramic art work of Judith Pungkarta Inkamala, ‘Desert Choir’.

Made from 100% Cotton Tote, Size 45cm (W) x 40cm (H)

Categories: Hermannsburg Potters Aboriginal Corporation

Name: Judith Pungarta Inkamala

Community: Ntaria

Biography:

Judith Inkamala is former Chair and senior member of Hermannsburg Potters Aboriginal Corporation, having joined the founding group of artists in 1993. Judith is an is an inspiring leader in her community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg), respected for her unwavering dedication and commitment to intergenerational sharing of cultural and ceramic knowledge. Judith is also a proud, former member of the renowned Hermannsburg Choir.

Judith's first solo exhibition, Atha Yia Nukanha Ilama (I gotta tell my story / I'm telling my story), opened at the Art Gallery of South Australia in October 2023 as part of Tarnanthi. Judith was awarded the 2022 Australia Council Award for Visual Arts for her lifetime of achievement with Hermannsburg Potters and dedication to arts and cultural work in Ntaria.

In her works, Judith depicts her lived histories and distinct Western Arrarnta Country. She sculpts and paints these visual histories and contemporary settings, speaking to her cultural beliefs, traditions and values. With 30 years’ experience working with clay and underglazes, Judith’s work is as skilfully painted as the pot is constructed.

Like many Hermannsburg Potters and Western Arrarnta artists, Judith’s painting style was informed by the watercolours of Albert Namatjira and the artists working in Ntaria at this time. “I remember the old people painting on paper. Painting the watercolours. I was best friends with Gillian Namatjira. After school I went to her house. Albert, her grandfather, was painting watercolours. The ladies painted too.”

Since 1993, Judith has been a part of over 100 group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Her work has been widely collected, held in public and private collections including Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria and National Gallery of Australia. In 1996, Inkamala was invited to participate in a cultural and pottery exchange with the Sasak Potters of Lombok, Indonesia. She also travelled to China in 2010 to showcase her pottery to ceramic artists for the collaborative exhibition Meou Art: Exhibition of Australian Indigenous Art in Shanghai. Judith has been a finalist of the NATSIAA awards three times. Judith’s achievements should also be measured in terms of the significant social and cultural contributions she has made to her community, her audiences and to Australian contemporary art.

© the artist / art centre