Biography

Ina was born in Munich (München), Bavaria, Germany, and grew up in various industrial suburbs across Germany and France during the 1970s and 1980s. From the age of 14 to 19, she studied under Martin Gensbaur, a Bavarian landscape painter known for his works around Lake Ammersee in Bavaria. This early mentorship laid the foundation for her artistic journey.

Following a scholarship to one of France’s prestigious Grandes Écoles, the École Nationale Supérieure de Design Industriel in Paris, Ina honed her skills in industrial design, textile design, and fine art. She also studied at L’Atelier in Paris, further expanding her creative repertoire. In 1992, she moved to New York City, where she completed her art and design education with a Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College.

After recovering from a life-threatening illness, Ina left her position at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and her New York studio to embark on a transformative five-year journey through Tibet and India. This period of exploration eventually led her to Bangladesh, where she worked with rural widows, assisting them in developing their designs and businesses to achieve economic independence.

In 2005, Ina returned to the United States, settling in the North Bay area of San Francisco. Drawing on the meditation techniques she had learned from Tibetan, Bengali, and Indian masters—including Lalon, Osho, and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche—she began teaching workshops on “Art and Meditation.” During this time, she also continued to paint, integrating her spiritual and artistic practices.

In 2007, Ina met Dotto Ngongoseke, and in 2008, their first son, Nyanza, was born. With the arrival of her second child in 2009 (the second of her three sons), Ina shifted her career focus, adding psychotherapy to her skill set. She began using art as a therapeutic tool, particularly in addressing medical and psychological challenges. Her thesis project, “Bookmaking and Sandplay with Families: Processing Racial Identity and the Psychological Adjustment of Mixed-Race Children,” was exhibited at the Mill Valley Library, California, in 2016.

Graduating with a second master’s degree in 2018, Ina continued to work with underserved populations, including at-risk youth, families affected by incarceration and immigration detention, individuals struggling with substance use, and those dealing with postpartum depression and developmental trauma. As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and art therapist, she balanced her professional work with raising her three young children. During this period, her artistic practice primarily involved small-scale watercolor and mixed-media works.

Her art was featured in group exhibitions at the Donna Seager Gallery in Mill Valley (later in San Rafael) and the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, as well as in a solo show at Design One in Sausalito. Her works have been collected by private collectors and institutions worldwide, including the IMRP in India, the Charlotte Derain Collections in France, Schloss Dagstuhl in Germany, and various collections in the United States, such as those of the City of New York and Hunter College.

In 2023, tragedy struck when Dotto, the love of her life, passed away unexpectedly in an accident. In the aftermath of this profound loss, Ina found herself unable to continue working with traumatized clients. She shifted her focus to her own healing, employing meditation and art as tools to process her grief. Returning to her roots as a fine artist, she began creating larger-scale oil paintings, exploring themes of loss, trauma, and transformation. Inspired by The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, she held space for her children while embarking on a deep journey of self-discovery.

The “Journey of These Paintings” series emerged from this period of introspection and healing. As Ina describes it, the work is a result of “witnessing and processing” and “applying the techniques of healing I invite my clients to do—on myself.” The rawness of her experience translates into powerful, unfiltered pieces that invite viewers to confront their own losses and become present to their emotions.