About the Artist
Bio
Beth Mitchell currently resides and practices between Brisbane and Melbourne, having devoted many years to developing her unique approach to underwater digital photography.
In response to the contemporary cultural and environmental landscape, Mitchell’s underwater photographs showcase diverse femininity in ethereal, underwater settings. Seeking hope and belonging, for both the collective and within herself, each body of Mitchell’s work delves into what it means to be a woman today, via her medium of photography and water.
In 2021, Mitchell won the prestigious ”Brisbane Portrait Prize” with her photographic self portrait “No Land in Sight”. In 2022, her film, “The Holocene” was commissioned by the Brisbane City Council and sits in their permanent, outdoor, digital collection. Mitchell’s 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
Prizes
2021
Brisbane Portrait Prize - “No Land in Sight” $50,000 Acquisition (winner)
2020
Mono Awards Australia - “Lumina” (honourable mention)
Australia Top Emerging Photographer - (honourable mention)
2019
Brisbane Portrait Prize - “Ascension" (category winner “Music + Performing Arts” $7,000)
Beautiful Bizarre International Photographic Art Prize - “Ariadne" (third place)
Australian Photography Awards - “Out of the black into the blue” (honourable mention)
Rotary Art Spectacular Brisbane, “The Dome” (curators choice)
2018
Capture Magazine Emerging Photographer of the Year - “The Dome” series (winner)
2015
RAW National Photographer of the Year Awards (winner)
Heritage Bank Photographic Award (runner up)
Heritage Bank Bruce Mckenzie Award “Vesuvius” (winner)
2014
NB Art Prize - “Vesuvius” (honourable mention)
2013
Lethbridge 10000 Art Prize, “Alice” (category winner “creativity”)
Collections
2022
Brisbane City Council Digital Art Collection Film Acquisition - “The Holocene”
Brisbane City Council Art Acquisition - Cinemagraph (3) “Crown”, “Embryo” + “Origin”
2020
Gadens Art Collection Acquisition - “Embers”
2019
Aria Development Art Acquisition “The Drapery” (“Arafura” + “Imaginarium” series)
Solo Exhibitions
2022
“Watertight” - Penny Contemporary, Hobart
2021 “
Firewater” - Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2020
“Force of Femininity” - Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2018
“The Dome” - Manyung Gallery, Sorrento Victoria
2017
“The Dome” - Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2016
“Arafura” - Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2014
“The Imaginarium” - Retrospect Galleries, Byron Bay
“The Imaginarium” - C Gallery, Brisbane
2012
“Whimsical” - Tosari Galleries, Toowoomba
Finalist
2021
Beautiful Bizarre International Photographic Art Prize - “Amphitrite
2020
Brisbane Portrait Prize -” Embers”
Beautiful Bizarre International Photographic Art Prize - “Evergreen"
Clayton Utz Art Award - “Lumina”
2019
Clayton Utz Art Award - “Equipoise”
Lethbridge 20000 - “Out of the black into the blue”
2018
Clayton Utz Art Award - “The Dome”
2017
Clayton Utz Art Award - “Madrigalia” “Sonetto” “Ariadne” “Renaissance”
2016
Clayton Utz Art Award - “Arafura”
2015
Clayton Utz Art Award - “Ivory Rose”
2012
Macquarie Photography Prize
Muswellbrook Photographic Award - “Alice”
Group Exhibitions
2022
“Botanica” - Outdoor Exhibition, Brisbane City Council -
“The Holocene” multiple location
“Interconnected” - Beautiful Bizarre Show, New England Regional Art Museum, NSW
380co - Beth Mitchell + Josh Dyykgraaf, Collingwood Victoria
380co - Affordable Art Fair Sydney
2021
“Springfinity” - Brisbane City Council Vitrine Installation, Edward & Queen St, Brisbane
“Springfinity” - Brisbane City Council, Lightbox works (7) King George Square
Downlands Art Exhibition, Toowoomba, QLD
2020
"Artists Down Under” - Coda Gallery, Palm Desert, California
2018
Manyung Galleries - Singapore Affordable Art Fair
2017
Heritage Bank Art Prize - University of Queensland, Toowoomba
2016
“She” - Manyung Galleries Melbourne, Victoria
2015
“Works on Paper” - Manyung Galleries Melbourne, Victoria
2014
Queensland Festival of Photography - Tosari Galleries, Toowoomba
Grammar Art Show - Toowoomba
Retrospect Galleries Affordable Art Fairs
2013
“See Me” - Digital Art Exhibition, New York
“Keeping Youth” - Retrospect Galleries, Byron Bay
Grammar Art Show - Feature Artist, Toowoomba
Heritage Bank Art Award - Brisbane Performing Arts Centre
Retrospect Gallery Artists International Affordable Art Fairs
2012
“Strutten Collective” - Bleeding Heart Gallery, Brisbane
Muswellbrook Art Prize Exhibition, Muswellbrook Regional Gallery, NSW