About the Artist
Biography
Beth Mitchell currently resides and practices between Brisbane and Melbourne.
Born in Toowoomba, a large portion of Mitchell’s career began in Brisbane where she grew up investing a majority of her youth developing her practice of digital photography underwater.
Her contemporary underwater photographs showcase diverse femininity in a captivating world under the surface. In light of the cultural and environmental landscape during the last few years, her work searches for hope and belonging for both the collective, and within herself. Each body of work explores contemporary womanhood through environmental, social and cultural stories and experiences through her medium of photography and water.
In 2021, Mitchell won the title of the ”Brisbane Portrait Prize” with her photographic self portrait “No Land in Sight”, a $50,000 acquisitive award. In 2022, her film, “The Holocene” was commissioned by the Brisbane City Council and sits in their permanent outdoor digital collection. Mitchell’s contemporary works are featured in public and private collections nationally and internationally.
“To dive into Beth Mitchell’s contemporary photographic art is to be immersed in an underwater world of female figures suspended in mindful and surreal constructs. With a fierce commitment to celebrating the female form, Beth’s work has evolved and matured in response to internal and external narratives. Her recent work explores connections to culture, nature, and social issues, creating impact with intimate and emotive stories, and a skillful mastery of technical challenges.”
- words by Beautiful Bizarre writer Elizabeth Barden
Awards & Public Collections
2022 Brisbane City Council Digital Art Collection Film Acquisition - “The Holocene”
2022 Brisbane City Council Art Acquisition - Cinemagraph (3) “Crown”, “Embryo” + “Origin”
2021 Brisbane Portrait Prize - “No Land in Sight” $50,000 Acquisition (winner)
2021 Beautiful Bizarre International Photographic Art Prize - “Amphitrite” (finalist)
2020 Gadens Art Collection Acquisition - “Embers”
2020 Brisbane Portrait Prize - ”Embers” (finalist)
2020 Beautiful Bizarre International Photographic Art Prize - “Evergreen" (finalist)
2020 Clayton Utz Art Award - “Lumina” (finalist)
2020 Mono Awards Australia - “Lumina” (honourable mention)
2020 Australia Top Emerging Photographer - (honourable mention)
2019 Brisbane Portrait Prize - “Ascension" (category winner “Music + Performing Arts” $7,000)
2019 Aria Development Art Acquisition “The Drapery” (“Arafura” + “Imaginarium” series)
2019 Beautiful Bizarre International Photographic Art Prize - “Ariadne" (third place)
2019 Australian Photography Awards - “Out of the black into the blue” (honourable mention)
2019 Clayton Utz Art Award - “Equipoise” (finalist)
2019 Lethbridge 20000 - “Out of the black into the blue” (finalist)
2019 Rotary Art Spectacular Brisbane, “The Dome” (finalist + curators choice)
2018 Capture Magazine Emerging Photographer of the Year - “The Dome” series (winner)
2018 Clayton Utz Art Award - “The Dome” (finalist)
2017 Clayton Utz Art Award - “Madrigalia” “Sonetto” “Ariadne” “Renaissance” (finalists)
2016 Clayton Utz Art Award - “Arafura” (finalist)
2015 RAW National Photographer of the Year Awards (winner)
2015 Heritage Bank Photographic Award (runner up)
2015 Heritage Bank Bruce Mckenzie Award “Vesuvius” (winner)
2015 Clayton Utz Art Award - “Ivory Rose” (finalist)
2014 NB Art Prize - “Vesuvius” (honourable mention)
2013 Lethbridge 10000 Art Prize, “Alice” (category winner “creativity”)
2012 Macquarie Photography Prize (finalist)
2012 Muswellbrook Photographic Award - “Alice” (finalist)
Solo Exhibitions
2022 “Watertight” - Penny Contemporary, Hobart
2021 “Firewater”, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2020 “Force of Femininity”, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2018 “The Dome”, Manyung Gallery, Sorrento, Melbourne, VIC
2017 “The Dome”, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2016 “Arafura”, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2014 “The Imaginarium”, Retrospect Galleries, Byron Bay, NSW
2014 “The Imaginarium”, C Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2012 “Whimsical”, Tosari Galleries, Toowoomba, QLD
Select Exhibitions
2021 “Springfinity”, Vitrine Installation, Edward & Queen St, Brisbane, QLD
2021 “Springfinity”, Lightbox (7) works, King George Square, Brisbane, QLD
2021 Brisbane Portrait Prize, Powerhouse, Brisbane QLD
2021 Downlands Art Exhibition, Toowoomba, QLD
2020 Artists Down Under, Coda Gallery, Palm Desert, California
2020 “Ascension” projection Antique Centre, Paddington Terraces Precinct Project, QLD
2019 Rotary Art Spectacular, Brisbane, QLD
2019 Clayton Utz Art Award, Riparian Plaza Brisbane, QLD
2019 Lethbridge 20,000, Brisbane, QLD
2018 Group Show by Manyung Galleries, Singapore Affordable Art Fair
2017 Heritage Bank Art Prize, University of Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD
2016 “She”, Manyung Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2015 “Works on Paper”, Manyung Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria
2014 Queensland Festival of Photography, Tosari Galleries, Toowoomba, QLD
2014 Grammar Art Show, Toowoomba Exhibition
2014 Retrospect Gallery Artists, Hong Kong, Singapore & London Affordable Art Fairs
2013 “See Me”, Digital Art Exhibition, New York, NY
2013 “Keeping Youth” Retrospect Galleries, Byron Bay
2013 Grammar Art Show, Feature Artist, Toowoomba Qld
2013 Heritage Bank Art Award, Brisbane Performing Arts Centre,Brisbane, QLD
2013 Retrospect Gallery Artists, Singapore, Hong Kong, Hamburg, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Brussels Affordable Art Fairs
2012 Strutten Collective, Bleeding Heart Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2012 Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Gallery, NSW
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