This pot is a group self-portrait of the Hermannsburg Potters, a collective of highly respected senior women artists of the Western Arrarnta (Arrernte) community. Through their vibrant hand-built, hand-painted terracotta pots, they tell stories of the local wildlife, Country and everyday life, reflecting their cultural beliefs and traditions. Although each of the artists has an individual style and approach, for this commission they worked together to create a self-portrait. The potters themselves are pictured on the sides of the pot, represented through their intricate connections with Country, including plants and animals, Ancestors (Albert Namatjira is there), and a Dreamtime story (the mother and her twins).
Ntaria (Hermannsburg) is a former Lutheran mission located 130 km west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in the Northern Territory. Hermannsburg Potters was established in 1990 several years after the land was returned to the traditional Arrarnta owners. Since then, Hermannsburg Potters has thrived, becoming a source of revenue for the community and an important form of traditional and contemporary expression for the local people. Hermannsburg pots have been widely exhibited and represented in national and international collections.
Commissioned 2009
© Hermannsburg Potters Aboriginal Corporation
Irene Mbitjana Entata (age 63 in 2009)
Lindy Panangka Rontji (age 47 in 2009)
Rahel Kngwarria Ungwanaka (age 63 in 2009)
Rona Panangka Rubuntja (age 39 in 2009)
Dawn Ngala Wheeler (age 56 in 2009)
Judith Pungarta Inkamala (age 62 in 2009)
Anita Ratara Mbitjana (age 66 in 2009)
Hayley Panangka Coulthard (age 42 in 2009)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
The first collaborative commission has arrived. It's a self portrait, it's ceramic and it's from Hermannsburg.
Well behaved women seldom make history, as the saying goes, and the National Portrait Gallery, consequently, is full of awesome Australian women who refused to conform to narrow ideas about their place and their worth.
