Betra Fraval

Artist Profile

Biography

Through her paintings Betra Fraval graphically and poetically interprets the landscapes she encounters. Her graphic abstractions use visual languages of cartography and geographic strata as frameworks for understanding the hidden meanings that particular places hold. Often these places map the artist’s travels and worldy surrounds. In State of Slow Shift Fraval charts the common ground between seemingly disparate environments she has encountered in the past year: the glaciers of Norway and Ben Lomond mountain, Tasmania.

In each of these landscapes, there are powerful undercurrents of knowledge and reflection. Glaciers move at an imperceptible pace, testimonies of the strength of quiet progress. For Ben Lomond, there is a breathtaking awareness of the vastness of time. Its mountainous rock formations date to the Jurassic period and what we experience of them is a mere blink in their history. It hints at the slow, but inevitable passing of time which eventually overtakes all things. Both landscapes are in constant states of slow shift – monuments of past and future.

BIOGRAPHY

Exhibitions

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
Mountains of the Mind, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2022
Melbourne Art Fair, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2020
State of Slow Shift, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
The Twelve Winds, Res Artists, Glasshouse Studio, Melbourne

2019
Wanderer, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2017
Moving Mountains, James Makin Gallery

2015
Falling into the Sky, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
The Rope Doesn’t Hang…the Earth Pulls, Five Walls Projects, Melbourne

2013
Still Remains, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne

2012
The Dead Tree Gives No Shelter, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne

2011
A Time of Disappearances, Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne

2010
Captured Traces, Carbon Black Gallery, Melbourne

2008
Unstable Ground, Victoria Park Gallery, Melbourne

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024
The Anxiety Project, The Dax Centre, Melbourne
Melbourne Art Fair, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2022
Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, Finalist Exhibition, Bayside Gallery, Melbourne
Spring: Group Exhibition, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2021
Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2020
Journey Around My Room, Bus Projects, Melbourne
Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne
John Leslie Art Prize, Gippsland Art Gallery

2019
Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
The Utopian Object, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne

2018
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, James Makin Gallery
Selected works by represented artists, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2016
Stratum, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne
Expanded Gaze Bundoora Homestead Melbourne
The Agency of Things, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

2014
VCA Graduate Exhibition, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne

2013
Wish You Were Here (SWARM), Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne

2011
Disappear, Kings ARI, Melbourne
A4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne

2010
Forged, Trocadero Gallery, Melbourne

2009
Keith and Elisabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship, VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne

2007
In the Shadows of Opulence, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne

Awards

AWARDS / GRANTS / RESIDENCIES

2024
John Leslie Art Prize
Paddington Art Prize

2022
Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize (finalist), Melbourne

2020
John Leslie Art Prize (finalist), Gippsland Art Gallery

2019
Helsinki International Artist Programme, Finland
Hôtel Sainte Valière, France
R&M McGivern Prize (Finalist), Melbourne

2018
Sachaqa Centro De Arte Artists Residency, Peru
BigCi Artists Residency, Blue mountains

2016
John Leslie Art Prize (finalist), Gippsland Art Gallery
Cowwarr Art Residency, Victoria, Australia

2015
Banyule Award Works on Paper (finalist), Hatch Contemporary Arts Space

2014
McClelland Sculpture Award (finalist), McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park
Galloway Lawson Award , Victorian College of the Arts

2011
Janet Holmes à Court Artists’ Grant, National Association for the Visual Arts
Works on Paper Prize (finalist), Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, NSW

2009
Keith and Elisabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship (finalist), VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne
Sankriti Kendra Art Residency, New Delhi, India

2006
Seventh Exhibition Grant, Seventh Gallery, Making Space ARI Festival

2005
Maude Glover Fleay Award, Victorian College of the Arts
Tolarno Hotel VCA Annual Art Award, Victorian College of the Arts

ARTWORKS

Betra Fraval Folds 2024 oil on linen 61 x 51 cm $3,500.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval Body and Landscape II 2024 oil on linen 61 x 51 cm $3,500.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval After the Rains (yellow) 2024 oil on linen 61 x 51 cm $3,500.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval After the Rains II 2024 oil on linen 61 x 51 cm $3,500.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval After the Rains 2024 oil on linen 138 x 112 cm $11,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval Desert Road 2024 oil on linen 138 x 112 cm $11,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval Body and Landscape 2024 oil on linen 138 x 112 cm $11,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval An Unnatural Space (Cataract Gorge) I 2023 oil on linen 150 x 130 cm $16,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval Geologic Meditation (Yellow), 2023 oil on linen 31 x 26 cm $1,700.00 ENQUIRE →
Betra Fraval Carved Landscape (Karijini) (Finalist, Bayside Art Prize 2022) 2022 oil on linen 138 x 112 cm $11,000.00 ENQUIRE →