Judith Pungarta Inkamala (b. 1947), senior potter, is an Arrernte woman who was born in Hermannsburg, 130 km west of Alice Springs. As a child she was friends with Albert Namatjira's granddaughter Gloria, and recalls watching the famous artist paint. Inkamala worked as a domestic where she learned to type and write stories about bush tucker, which were later reflected in her pottery designs. She joined the women's collective Hermannsburg Potters in 1993, initially working as an assistant to pottery teacher Naomi Sharp. In 1996, she was invited to Lombok, Indonesia to research pottery making techniques with the Sasak Potters. The designs for Inkamala's beautifully crafted hand-coiled pots, each topped with a lid adorned with a sculpture, draw inspiration from her life and her Arrernte Country. Her work was included in the 2010 collaborative exhibition Meou Art: Exhibition of Australian Indigenous Art in Shanghai, China.
