“Been painting a long time. Always bush plum, on grandfather and father’s country. That’s our dreaming, only bush plum. Green one, black one, red one. Come after the rain.” Elizabeth Mpetyan Mbitjana

Populated by myriad overlapping marks that form a rhythm across the surface of each composition, Anmatyerr artist Elizabeth Mpetyan Mbitjana’s paintings feature subtle counterpoints and shifts in tone in her own distinct style.

Born in the Utopia region of the Northern Territory, northeast of Alice Springs in 1970, Elizabeth Mpetyan Mbitjana participates in traditional ways of life and ceremonies that support the germination of the Arnwekety (bush plum), the subject of her rhythmic and nuanced paintings. She was encouraged to paint by her family, which includes a number of renowned artists including her mother Kathleen Ngale, her aunts Angelina Pwerle (Ngale) and Polly Ngale and her father Motorbike Paddy, who has passed on the story of Arnwekety (bush plum) to her.

Elizabeth Mpetyan Mbitjana’s debut solo exhibition was held at Niagara Galleries in 2024 and she was a finalist in the 2025 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. Recent solo exhibitions include: Niagara Galleries, Melbourne (2024), in association with Utopia Art Centre. Group exhibitions include: Telstra NATSIAA, Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin, NT (2025); Arrarantenh, Arnwekety, Aynikw, Ayteyikw, Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT (2023 & 2022), Delmore Gallery: Utopia Women, Merricks House Art Gallery, VIC (2018); Sacred Marks, JGM Gallery, London, UK (2017); Utopia: the artists of Delmore Downs, Yaama Gang Gallery, Moree, NSW (2017); Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Perth, WA (2016).