About the Artist Lorraine is a proud Yorta Yorta and Djajawurung woman and Stolen Generation survivor. She started her artistic journey doing religious paintings through the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, before undertaking a course at NMIT, which helped her discover her culture. This opened her up to new artistic abilities, including doing murals and visual art. She took a break from art for health reasons, and discovered Neami Splash Art Studio, which assisted with her healing and mental health journey. Neami Splash Studio taught her how to express her identity through art. Through the Studio, she became affiliated with the Darebin City Council. She did an acrylic painting of mother and child to help with her healing which was accepted by the Darebin Mayor at the time. She also did an acrylic piece on canvas in 2004 of a baby feeling Mother Earth in the sand, which is now a part of the Darebin Art Collection. After this, Lorraine took a break from art to start a family and raise her three kids. When she's away from art, she sees birds as an inspiration for her artwork. Art also inspires her to talk and travel, and she got back into art through teaching. She taught art across a range of Melbourne Primary and High Schools, to educate children on Aboriginal art and to encourage their art practise. This included creating totem poles to represent individual totems, and creating a nest and eggs of Bunjil. In 2009, Lorraine started at RMIT, where she expanded further on her artistic styles, doing abstract art, linoprints, textiles and working with watercolours, ink and ochre. While at RMIT her artwork was part of a number of exhibitions including Together We Walk and Are Strong, a cross-cultural exhibition for Reconciliation Week in 2013. Lorraine would always bring her kids to her exhibitions as well, as they loved it. She graduated at RMIT with a Diploma of Arts. Today, Lorraine still enjoys doing art as a form of healing for her mental health. She also enjoys collecting abstract resources from nature with her grandkids, and recycling what she has at home to transform it into something beautiful, and to teach and assist her grandchildren with their artwork. To her, art is a form of self-determination as a path to healing, and to this day, she still surprises herself that she can still do it. About the Artwork I collected the pieces and elements for this canvas from nature and recycled materials from around my home. I like to use recycled materials when creating art. The leaves and flowers are from bushland, and the shells are from the beach. This is my way of using abstract art as a form of recycling and crafting beauty from current resources. My artworks mostly focus on animals, as that’s what I love creating. It’s an eye-catching piece, as I love hues of blue, and have a cultural connection to the water and the Murray River. In my mid-twenties, I came back to the Cummeragunja Mission and the Murray River to connect with my family. My artwork is of my Yorta Yorta totem - the long-necked turtle. It’s of a family in the Murray River; a mother, a father and their four babies. For me, art is a form of self-determination, as a path to healing, and a way to connect to my Country home.