BETRA FRAVAL
"Betra Fraval achieves an atmospheric lightness, like the damp veil of early morning mist that shrouds Bundanon—deep valley in Dharawal language. The looseness of paint mirrors her new approach to materiality. Holding Things Lightly. Lightly holding. Holding on to something like air. This is painting for the love of painting, unconstrained by the need to define. Water melts into land and the sky dissolves into trees."
Anita King, 2025
BIOGRAPHY
Melbourne based painter Betra Fraval has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from the Victoria College of the Arts and has held solo exhibitions in Melbourne since 2008 at institutions including Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, C3 Contemporary Art Space and Res Artists, Glasshouse Studios. Her work has been included in group exhibitions since 2007 in Victoria and New South Wales and internationally in Finland, Peru and France at institutions including Gippsland Art Gallery, The Dax Centre, Bayside Gallery, Bus Projects, Bundoora Homestead, Victorian College of the Arts and Seventh Gallery.
Betra has undertaken residencies at Bundanon, NSW (2025), Sanskriti Kendra in India (2009), Sachaqa Centro De Arte in the Amazon Rainforest, Peru (2018), Hôtel Sainte Valière in France (2019) and the Helsinki International Artist Programme in Finland (2019). She has been a finalist in the John Leslie Art Prize (2024, 2020, 2016), the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize (2022) and the R&M McGivern Prize (2019). Betra's work is held in the collection of Artbank as well as private collections in Australia and internationally.
ARTIST CV
DOWNLOAD PDF
PAST EXHIBITIONS
STOCKROOM
NEWS
TAI SNAITH ACQUIRED BY SHEPPARTON ART MUSEUM
Works from Tai Snaith’s ‘Flotilla (there’s no dignity in haste)’ series of slugs have been acquired by the Shepparton Art Museum. The Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) holds the most significant collection of historic and contemporary Australian ceramics in regional Australia. The collection strives to encompass all aspects of ceramic production in Australia and be comprehensive…
JUDITH VAN HEEREN EXHIBITED IN ‘GROUNDSWELL’ AT CASTLEMAINE ART MUSEUM
Judith Van Heeren is exhibited in Groundswell at Castlemaine Art Museum until the 19th of July. In order to effect change, you need a groundswell, a groundswell of opinion, a surge of emotion, a desire for new thinking. This exhibition celebrates artists who want to build a groundswell for change whether that be environmental, cultural, personal or…
ANTONIA SELLBACH EXHIBITED IN ‘THE CONCENTRIC INFLUENCES OF SOL LEWITT: FOUNDATIONS, PIVOTS AND PLACE’ AT RMIT GALLERY
Antonia Sellbach is exhibited in ‘The Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Foundations, Pivots and Place’, opening at RMIT Gallery on 5 June 2026. Instigated and directed by Dr Irene Barberis (RMIT School of Art), this exhibition emerges from her long-term friendship and mentorship with the esteemed American conceptual artist Sol LeWitt. …
NICOLE KELLY FINALIST IN 2026 WYNNE PRIZE AT THE ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Nicole Kelly is a finalist in the 2026 Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales with her painting ‘Bird Hour’. “I have visited the arid zone of remote Fowlers Gap Research Station in NSW, 110 kilometres north of Broken Hill, continuously for the past six years. Bird hour is an accumulated response…
BETRA FRAVAL AWARDED 2026 ACQUISITIVE BECKETT LOCAL PRIZE AT THE 2026 BAYSIDE PAINTING PRIZE
Congratulations to Betra Fraval who has been awarded the acquisitive Beckett Local Prize at the 2026 Bayside Painting Prize with her work ‘Taking flight’. The Bayside Painting Prize is Melbourne’s premier annual painting prize. The finalist exhibition brings together a broad range of artists from across Australia, both established and lesser known, whose varied approaches…
JUDITH VAN HEEREN FEATURED IN ART GUIDE AUSTRALIA
Although she emigrated from the Netherlands to Australia as a young child, Judith Van Heeren appears to have inherited a cultural affinity for the dark, moody still lifes of the Dutch Masters, an art historical legacy she has long admired. Borrowing from this visual language, her paintings elevate Australian flora, imbuing them with the gravitas,…