About the Artist Holly Ryan is an emerging First Nations artist from the Mornington Peninsula, VIC, who has had a passion for art since she was a little girl. Holly has recently started showcasing her Indigenous art to the public in order to learn and connect with a culture that was taken from her, with the Stolen Generation forcing her family to not know their heritage and mob. They do know that Holly's great grandfather was ‘Jo Johnson’, the first Indigenous man to play AFL. She uses her passion for her culture and painting to express her emotions through intuitive paintings on canvas, murals and digitally. Holly has worked with various small Indigenous owned businesses, and local netball clubs to bring more awareness to Indigenous rounds, and Indigenous culture in her community. Her most recent passion is bringing art workshops to primary schools, helping them explore universal Aboriginal art and showcasing her painting process. About the Artwork This piece is about my story. My different experiences through various landscapes of my life, since I started my art/healing/learning journey. The canvas is filled with blank “channels” some of which fold over themselves. These represent the failures, hardships and grief that have shaped me into who I am today. These channels may not continue to ascend to more success, knowing more about my family heritage or improving my own mental health, but everything i have experienced throughout these channels has helped me connect to who I am supposed to be, a culture and community I have been deprived of. The main channel continues off the page in a diagonal, representing my future and the unknown positive and negative experiences I am yet to face, and the different ways I will change as a person. Symbols for “family” and “person” are placed throughout this piece to appreciate the people I have met since focusing on my art and my culture. The people that have helped me learn, grow, and heal. The best is yet to come. Holly