Close
Ntyeny ngkwarl
$750.00
Kamara: I done it [pottery] back at school, with that, you know, that wheel. But this time, first time using those coils. I just started building and that shape came. Easy! I learnt quick. I feel good making them, I’d like to make more of them.
Pitjara: He was thinking for that shape in the pottery and to give it to me for my design. I told him, ‘Can you give it to me so I can do a design for that honey flower?’ That big one I’m gonna make, like I always do for painting. That pattern for ntyeny ngkwarl (red-bud mallee flowers). We was doing that pottery, first time, inside here and then thinking at home, we’re gonna do that again. We like doing those pottery, thinking for those designs. What kind next?
Kamara: Bush tucker?
Pitjara: We want to keep going, doing those potteries. Keep going. And working together, husband and wife way. We like doing it together. It’s fun together. We’re laughing together about it.
Benjamin Barnes Kamara
Georgina Jones Pitjara
Ntyeny ngkwarl is the first collaborative effort of husband-and-wife duo Benjamin Barnes Kamara and Georgina Jones Pitjara and one of the first pieces to come out of Arlpwe Art and Culture Centre’s new pottery program. After months of cleaning, rehydrating clay and building furniture, Benjamin was the first artist to get to work when the pottery studio opened in late April 2024, keen to build on experience from his youth.
Benjamin Barnes Kamara is a Kaytetye and Alyawarr man who grew up in Ali Curung. He is the son of fellow Arlpwe artist Nancy Long. Benjamin has been employed at Arlpwe Art and Culture Centre as an arts worker in the men’s painting room.
Georgina Jones Pitjara is an Alyawarr woman who grew up around Utopia. Her paintings are heavily inspired by her family who were some of the early acclaimed Utopia artists. Georgina paints bush flowers, bush medicine and hunting scenes.
Recently, Benjamin and Georgina, who are husband and wife, have taken to a collaborative ceramics practice, with Benjamin making vessels and Georgina decorating them.
