Lyarra-lyarra (blue bird) Lyarra-lyarra always comes to my house and they come and look for water. They always comes to my fence and they look for water, they make me happy when I see the birds.
Name: Anita Mbitjana Ratara
Language: Western Arrarnta
Community: Ntaria
Biography:
Anita Ratara is a senior artist at Hermannsburg Potters and is highly regarded for her confident & colourful painting of Country.
Anita was 'born bush' in the alukura (women's camp) near Hermannsburg in 1943. She is the mother of prominent potter Hayley Coulthard. Anitas youngest daughter Alizha is an emerging artist also working with the Hermannsburg Potters.
She attended the Hermannsburg Mission school, and later went on to work in the clinic, teaching the young mother's who had children. She also recalls making moccasins, or 'fancy work', for the missionaries.
As a young woman, Anita showed natural ability in the arts and crafts, teaching herself to paint from an early age. She recalls being taught pottery by Naomi Sharp in the early 1990s, when the pottery program was located at the outstations. Now at eighty years of age, Anita continues to dedicate herself to art and comes to work at the Pottery every day, inspiring and teaching younger artists and family members.
Anita mostly depicts Palm Valley in her work, of which she is a Traditional Owner. Palm Valley is Anita's grandfather's Country, and she continues to assert her links with her Country through her art and to share her invaluable stories.
Exhibitions:
2017 Time and Tide, Alcaston Gallery, Victoria. Australia
2017 Desert Mob, Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Australia.
2017 Irna :Trees, Alcaston Gallery, Paddington, New South Wales. Australia
2018 'Lurpa- Seasons' Bett Gallery, Hobart Tasmania, Australia
2018 Desert Mob, Araluen Alice Springs , Northern Territory, Australia
2018 Ramaramaka 'Generation Big Pot Project Alcaston Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
2019 Pmere Nuka- Our Country' Turner Galleries, Perth, Western Australia
2019 Hermnannsburg Potters, Bett Gallery, Hobart Tasmania, Australia
2019 Australian Ceramics Triennale, Hobart Tasmania, Australia
2019 Desert Mob, Araluen, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2019 Looking Back Moving Forward' Alcaston Gallery, Fitzroy, Australia
Collections
National Portrait Gallery
National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
ART FAIRS:
2017 - 2022 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin, Northern Territory
2017 - 2022 Tarnanthi Festival and Art Fair, Adelaide, Australia
Status: Stock AS Colour Uni-sex Cut Chestnut Brown 100% Cotton Digital Print In language we say “Ntaria-rinya ntjaarrala etna nama urrknga mpaaranha!” and that means “Ntaria mob, they make things from clay!”
Yalka (Bush Onion) All the family digging for yalka (bush onion) in Ntaria. Kwatja kngarrala nhamalanga yalka mangkama. Wild onions grow after lots of rain.
Kutjera (Bush Sultana/Desert Raisin) This is bush raisin, Kutjera. We find it near Ntari and 8 mile.