‘Uplifting Journeys’ represents Visa’s Reflect RAP journey, the people who are supporting this journey and the Visa employees and clients that will be a part of the journey to bring Visa’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) vision to life. The piece also represents Visa’s wider purpose to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

To represent these journeys, the bottom of the artwork represents Visa beginning their reconciliation journey surrounded by a row of people that represents the organisational culture of ‘One Visa’. This section then connects with the key areas of a RAP - respect, opportunities, relationships, and internal governance. Linking these four key areas and Visa, the footprints at the top represent a future state in Visa’s Reflect RAP journey where RAP commitments have or are in the process of being achieved.

Lastly, surrounding the RAP journey is the representation of the interconnectedness and diversity amongst Visa's people, technology, customers, and geographical locations.

It is my hope that “Uplifting Journeys” creates a feeling of pride and that Visa’s stakeholders feel connected to the journeys of Visa and reconciliation.

Early conversations with the Manteena team highlighted key themes of a family-based culture, connection, diversity of clients and their own organisational reconciliation journey. All these themes were the inspiration for the ‘Building connection’ artwork and its elements.

The three layers in the background are inspired by the colours of the different landscapes which Manteena delivers its projects across. From the green of the Canberra region, where Manteena’s headquarters are based, to across Australia and seas. The smaller circles that connect to the green centre, but expand across the layers, represent the wide reach of Manteena’s clients and projects.

The three symbols in the centre represent the three key areas of a Reconciliation Action Plan - respect, relationships, and opportunities. They are connected to the Canberra headquarters to represent the positive impact of embedding RAP initiatives internally but also across into the next layer to represent the positive external impact.

Lastly, the figures around the edge represent Manteena’s family-based culture including their families, their clients, and the community all of whom contribute to Manteena’s purpose of leading the way in quality construction.

“Growing Connection” represents TTW’s journey that began over 60 years ago in Sydney in 1958 with the three founding partners (at the centre of the artwork) to what it is today, an organisation that values collaboration, technical experience, personal approach, and initiative embedded by seven partners and over 330 employees across five locations and expanding.

The key themes of “Growing Connection” are growth and connection. Growth in terms of future aspirations of continued expansion but also growth as an organisation gained from embarking on the reconciliation journey; and connection in terms of connection with First Nation people but also TTW employees and clients.

Taking inspiration from the shape in the Our History video of the ‘walk through aviary of Taronga Zoo,’ the infinity shape of footprints represents various stakeholders’ ongoing journeys with TTW - be that a client, an employee, or community. The incoming footprints from the corners represent TTW’s new stakeholders that become part of the ongoing journey.

The orange dots that form ripples through the piece, represent the ripple effect of change, that is, TTW’s growth over the years, as well as future growth, and the positive impact that TTW’s reconciliation journey will have, both internally and externally. Lastly, the colours inside each ripple represent my interpretation of the various localities - blue for Sydney, eucalyptus green for Canberra, tropical green for Jakarta, grass green for Melbourne, yellow for Brisbane and orange to represent the future TTW locations.

It is my hope that “Growing Connection” creates feelings of welcome and belonging for all TTW stakeholders.

This piece was commissioned by CPA Australia for their first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). When I first began to design this piece, and with my understanding of CPA Australia, being a member myself, I wanted to capture, overall, the endless opportunities that could result from combining the elements of the reconciliation journey with that of CPA Australia’s vision and the internationally recognised designation that it offers its members. So to capture this, I chose to use the overall concept of Earth and Space and liken that to CPA’s reconciliation journey.

At the very centre of the piece I have represented CPA Australia’s core services: Education, Training, Tech support and Advocacy using a four-blade propellor to represent propelling CPA forward into the future. The next layer, represented by the two continuous interlocked lines, represents CPA’s ongoing commitment to their vision of partnering with members to prepare for today and tomorrow in a globally connected world. The members are represented by the six layers of coloured dots and the different colours represent the diversity of members and the field they work within.

Intersecting with this layer is how I have chosen to represent the reconciliation journey. The five slightly smaller circles represent the five dimensions of which reconciliation is based and measured upon, they are: historical acceptance, race relations, equality & equity, institutional integrity and unity. The three larger circles represent the core components of the RAP which are Respect, Relationships and Opportunities. The reason I chose to have the reconciliation journey intersecting with the layer representing the members is because CPA’s reconciliation journey will involve them too. As I believe it will provide an opportunity for the members to encourage their organisations to continue, or embark on, the reconciliation journey.

With the ‘Earth’s layers’ capturing the essence of CPA Australia and its members combined with that of CPA’s RAP journey, the background, ‘Space’, is how I have chosen to represent the endless opportunities and pathways that will be available to CPA Australia as they embark on their reconciliation journey.

‘Commitment to connection’ tells the story of IPAA ACT and their commitment to Canberra and community, including their ongoing journey of reflection, respect and reconciliation.

The overall concept reflects connection with the private, public, peak bodies and academic sectors and relationships with the other state and territory IPAAs coming together to share expertise and knowledge. Debating, collaborating, innovating, communicating and building capability in public administration. In particular it shows IPAA ACT as a conduit to connect.The colours and elements of ‘Commitment to connection’ are inspired by those seen in the Canberra region.

The leaves of a eucalyptus, the most common native tree in the region but also common in other regions of Australia, represents IPAA ACT and the other sectors coming together in an abstract royal bluebell shape to represent Canberra. The colours of the leaves were inspired by the colours I see during autumn in the region. Since moving to the region nearly a decade ago, I am still mesmerized by the beautiful colours seen in the distinct seasons experienced in the region, autumn included. The royal bluebell’s yellow centre represents IPAA ACT and the sectors coming together, the royal bluebell petals represent each of the sectors and the outside of the royal bluebell represents the ACT community. Surrounded on the outside by IPAA QLD, NSW, VIC, TAS, NT, WA, SA to represent their connection to IPAA ACT but also connection to the Australian community.

‘Reflective connectedness’ has been commissioned by AusIMM for their inaugural Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). AusIMM is the peak body for people working in the resources sector recognising and promoting the importance of equality of opportunity for all people pursuing careers in the sector. AusIMM’s RAP is a critical step in their continuing journey to advance reconciliation for First Nations people and communities.

‘Reflective connectedness’ represents the resource industry’s fundamental connectedness to (and dependence upon) country. The earth is represented at the centre with land and resources at the centre surrounded by our oceans. AusIMM represents 65,000 professionals and has a global footprint - they are represented by the footprints and the people around the outside of the centre element.

The decagon extract connecting through to the centre element represents AusIMM’s connection to the community (represented in the background), the resource sector and the land (centre element). The decagon extract features five circles. The four blue circles represent AusIMM’s values of respect, unity, innovation and integrity and the icon in the grey circle represents the five dimensions of reconciliation.

‘Elevating to New Heights’ stems from the fact PwC and PIC have developed an Elevate RAP and with that becoming a leader in the space of reconciliation, and reaching new heights. It ties into my theme of using a tree and how I associate it with growth.

As you view the painting, you are looking at it from a Birds eye view. You see the inside of a tree and its roots. Its roots represent a strong foundation, an enabler for growth which is what has and will continue to happen to PwC & PIC in their reconciliation journey. The roots also represent the diversity of PwC and PIC and its peoples. The important role they play when it comes to working together to achieve their reconciliation vision.

Their reconciliation journey is represented by the growth rings in the tree trunk and the interlocking lines in a continuous run that form the tree trunk represents their ongoing commitment to reconciliation. Lastly, the colours of the background are not just the brand colours but represent a sunrise and with each new sunrise is a chance for new opportunities in this new phase of their reconciliation journey.

This painting was commissioned in August 2017 for use in CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn (CCG)’s Innovate RAP. The brief I received from CCG was that the artwork should be representative of their organisation and their RAP journey therefore I have produced a piece of artwork that represents aspects relating to CCG’s organisation, their RAP journey and the ripple effect concept.
When I was researching and planning the piece of artwork for CCG, one statement that stood out for me was “We‘re the hands and the eyes, we’re the hearts and minds; we are there, there for any human.” I really wanted to incorporate this message and so I decided to look up the words in Ngyiampaa language. In Ngyiampaa language, hands is Mara, eyes is Mil, heart is Kii and whilst there was no word for ‘minds’ specifically there was Pala which means ‘head’. I thought this was an appropriate substitute.
Other information I wanted to capture in the painting was that CCG’s services cover the extensive coastline, the Snowy Mountains, the rolling hills and flat plains out west and I had these various terrains in mind when deciding the colour palette. CCG provides services on the land of five traditional owners (Ngunnawal People in the ACT, the Gundungurra people to the north, Yuin people to the south, Ngarigo to the South West, and the Wiradjuri people in the North-West). These mobs are represented in the painting by the upside down ‘U’ symbols which is a common Aboriginal symbol used to represent people. I have also tried to place the communities in a way you would find them on a map.
During my research I also noted nine services delivered by CCG and endeavoured to include icons that were representative of them. Some are self-explanatory but I have included explanations for my rational behind each one below:
-Family Support Services (depicted by two parent figures and a small child)
-Counselling Services (depicted by a figure representative of a counsellor who is sitting up straight whilst talking to a patient who is suffering and is represented by them sitting slightly bent over)
-Disability (depicted by a common icon of a person in a wheelchair, whilst acknowledging disability is more broad and not always visible I felt this was the right icon to use nonetheless)
-Aged Care (depicted by a person with a walking stick)
-Mental Health (depicted by a brain)
-Youth (depicted by an adult and a slightly shorter person to indicate being a youth)
-Homelessness (depicted by a person assisting someone homeless get on their feet)
-Alcohol and Other Drugs (depicted by a bottle but an upside down glass to represent the process of giving up alcohol)
-Housing (depicted by a house shape)
The green section represents CCG’s RAP journey. The filled-in footprints indicate what point CCG is currently at in their RAP journey, Innovate, and the steps yet to be taken are represented by the outline of footprints. The section also travels from bottom corner to top right corner to represent moving forward and I wanted to use green as I feel green represents growth but this section also is meant to be representative of the rolling hills mentioned previously. There are four main circles within the green section to represent the four various RAPs an organisation can implement. Keeping in mind each RAP builds on the previous RAP (hence why the circles grow with each RAP) and that the journey to Reconciliation isn’t something that happens overnight. My inspiration to represent these various aspects of the Reconciliation journey and that Reconciliation doesn’t happen overnight was to use the concept of tree growth rings. Each year, the tree forms new cells, arranged in concentric circles called annual rings or annual growth rings and I thought this tied in quite nicely to represent the Reconciliation journey.
As mentioned previously, I wanted to represent the various terrains CCG services and so part of the blue section is to represent the coastline. However my inspiration to represent this section as ripples is from one of my favourite movies as a child, Pocahontas, and one quote that has stuck with me is when Grandmother Willow dips her vine into the water and says “So small at first, then look how they grow. But someone has to start them.” I feel this interpretation ties in quite nicely with the Reconciliation journey because even the smallest steps can lead to greater positive change.