Judith Inkamala is the outgoing Chair, Director, and senior member artist of the Hermannsburg Potters Aboriginal Corporation, joining the founding group of artists in 1993. Judith is an inspiring and respected leader in her community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg) 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. In her works, Judith depicts her lived histories and distinct Western Aranda Country.

Sculpting and painting these visual histories and contemporary settings, she speaks to her cultural beliefs, traditions, and values. With nearly 30 years’ experience working with clay and underglazes, Judith’s work is as skilfully painted as it is constructed. Like many Hermannsburg Potters and Western Aranda artists, Judith’s painting style was informed by the watercolours of Albert Namatjira and the artists working in Ntaria at the time. “I remember the old people painting on paper. Painting the watercolours. I was best friends with Gillian Namatjira. After schools 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, help in public and private collections including the Art gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria, and the 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. In 2021, Judith’s artwork was animated and projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House as part of Badu Gili: Wonder Women

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.

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