ABOUT THE ARTIST

Melanie Hava

I am blessed to have been born into interesting and diverse cultures: my father comes from the oldest city in Austria, Enns (Upper Austria) and my mother is from the oldest cultures in the world, Aboriginal people of Australia. While celebrating my Austrian heritage, I also identify through my Mum’s line as a Mamu Aboriginal woman, Dugul-barra and Wari-barra family groups, from the Johnstone River catchment of the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland and the adjoining Great Barrier Reef sea country. Reef and rainforest country are important sources for my inspirations. I have known from a very young age that I was going to be an artist. My sister Joelene and I created art on didgeridoos and canvas. This art sold very quickly in the little, opal mining outback town of Yowah way out back of western Queensland. This red soil country still influences my works. I have now settled down in Far North Queensland’s Cairns – close at hand to my mother’s country where I am feeling close to the spirit of rainforest and reef. My life now revolves around my three children and running the house whilst keeping up with my gallery and commissioned artworks.