Meet the Artists Behind Our Cultural Determinants of Health Motif

To launch our Cultural Determinants of Health Webcast Series we engaged two local artists and asked them to design a motif that represented the themes of the series. The brief for the motif was:

“To bring about better health, education and wellbeing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people we must address the cultural determinants of health – that is:

• connection to land and Country
• connection to spirituality and ancestors
• connection to family, kinship and community
• connection to mind and body

The motif should also reflect that it is a Centre for Healthcare Knowledge & Innovation program.”

Here’s the result…

ABOUT CHARMAINE DAVIS

Charmaine Davis is a Goori Woman who is descended from the Gumbaynggir and Bundjalung Nations. Charmaine has always been a creative soul and as she states ‘It’s in my blood to create’. She has been a practicing artist for the past 14 years.

A principal theme in Charmaine’s work is the landscapes and history of country. Inspiration for her artistic creations are attributed to her culture, homelands and family. Charmaine creates visual portals that allow the viewer to connect with her Art and Cultural vision and is compelled to tell the history of this Country through an Aboriginal lens, highlighting travesties that have occurred and are still having impact in the Contemporary world we live in.

View more of Charmaine’s work at: www.charmainedavis.com.au

ABOUT CHENAYA BANCROFT-DAVIS

Chenaya Bancroft-Davis a Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr woman from Northern New South Wales, though she currently resides in Brisbane. As a child Chenaya always loved to paint and draw. She grew up in a family of artists with her greatest influence being her mother, Charmaine Davis. It seemed inevitable that Chenaya too would become an artist someday.

In 2013 Chenaya completed her Undergraduate degree in the Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art course at Griffith University’s Queensland College of Art (QCA) in South Bank. On completion of her Undergraduate course at QCA she gained a better understanding of her own cultural background and history as well as that of her community. The program empowered Chenaya to learn more about her Aboriginal heritage, and to share that knowledge through artistic expression.

Over the years Cheneya has experimented with a range of mediums, but her focus has been predominantly painting, printmaking, drawing, and air brushing. She uses lino printing as a way of conveying stories, because the process of carving linoleum is not unlike the traditional incising of designs onto sculpture and domestic objects.

With investigation into her family history and referencing the poems written down and told by her Nan, Chenaya has made a body of work to record her stories and ideas as a way of sharing memories and rejuvenating a remarkable history.

View Chenaya’s stories on Instagram @ naya_leigh_art