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
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PAST EXHIBITIONS
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TAI SNAITH WORKS ACQUIRED BY BAYSIDE GALLERY EXHIBITED IN ‘FUTURE PAST’ UNTIL 19 OCTOBER
Tai Snaith’s work recently acquired by Bayside Gallery is exhibited in ‘Future past: recent additions to the Bayside City Council Art and Heritage Collection’ at Bayside Gallery, Brighton until 19 October. This exhibition presents a selection of artworks that have been recently acquired by Bayside City Council. A range of themes, styles and periods are…
KEZ HUGHES ACQUIRED BY ARTBANK
Kez Hughes’ painting Revolution of capital from her July exhibition has been acquired by Artbank. Artbank is part of the Australian Government Office for the Arts, in the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. Established in 1980 by the Australian Government, Artbank’s two core objectives are to provide direct support to Australian contemporary…
TAI SNAITH ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE AT JACKY WINTER GARDENS
Tai Snaith was the August Artist-in-Residence at Jacky Winters Gardens and was photographed by Gavin Green: During her recent residency at Jacky Winter Gardens, Tai and her gentle giant hound Wally re-visited many places of her childhood (Tai grew up for many years in the hills), which has formed the research for two of her…
KEZ HUGHES REVIEWED IN THE AGE’S WEEKEND PICKS
“For a while Kez Hughes was creating paintings of other artworks and sculptures from ancient and classical periods, but now her focus has enticingly shifted to temperamental landscapes and lightly surreal scenes. Partly inspired by a recent trip to Naples and the volcano Vesuvius, the paintings foremost hold a sense of time: that past moments,…
TAI SNAITH EXHIBITED IN WOMEN’S ART REGISTER EXHIBITION ‘UNSEEN’ AT ACU MELBOURNE GALLERY, AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
Tai Snaith is exhibited in the Women’s Art Register exhibition ‘UNSEEN’ until 27 September at ACU Melbourne Gallery, Australian Catholic University UNSEEN will showcase a collection of artworks by W.A.R members that have never before been exhibited or sold. Each artist has personally selected a piece, offering a rare glimpse into hidden creative narratives. This…
VIRGINIA CUPPAIDGE EXHIBITED IN ‘KNOW MY ABSTRACTION’ AT UNIVERSITY GALLERIES, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
Virginia Cuppaidge is exhibited in Know My Abstraction at University Gallery at the University of Newcastle from the 19th of July to the 6th of September. Know My Abstraction offers a regional counterpoint to the National Gallery of Australia’s 2019 Know My Name initiative, extending its critical reckoning with gender imbalance into the the terrain of local practice…