Artist Showcase | Melanie Hava

Clan groups: Dugul-barra and Wari-barra
Language groups: Dryibal language family group, Mamu people

Melanie Hava was born in Mount Isa, Queensland, in 1982 and currently lives and work in Cairns, Queensland.

When Hava was 23 years old, she travelled to Austria to live with her father's family and learn about European cultures. Her exquisite landscape and seascape paintings often include an homage to her father’s cultural legacy, through the inclusion of silver and gold leaf as well as Swarovski crystal. 

On her return to Australia, Hava moved to Cairns to be close to her mother’s Country. It is here that the artist says she feels at home and at one with the spirit of the rainforest and reef animals. Her artwork is a unique fusion of cultural influences from both sides of her family. 

In 2023, Hava was awarded a Cairns RSL Artist Fellowship that enabled her to develop an ambitious nine-metre-wide painting on paper showcasing the flora and fauna that abound on Mamu country, south of Cairns. In creating this work Hava introduced a new approach to her painting. In the past her paintings had always been a retelling of her grandmother’s stories, based on her memories of her Country, with the painting elements compressed in the frontal space of the paintings.

However, in her new work Hava began working from direct observation of her Country, inserting new elements such as waterfalls and mountain ranges to present a more panoramic exploration of her stories and experience of her Country. The nine-metre panoramic work was exhibited in the same year as her first solo exhibition at the Gallery entitled, Melanie Hava: Bugan Mungan. The work was subsequently purchased for the Gallery Collection. 

Hava is represented in the Cairns Art Gallery’s online First Nation Research Archive developed as part of the Gallery’s online Resource Archive produced to celebrate the Gallery’s 30th anniversary.

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Solo Exhibition | Highlighted Works

Bugan Mungan
28 Oct 2023 - 18 Feb 2024

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Melanie Hava, Bugan Mungan  2023, synthetic polymer paint, metallic watercolour paint and gold and silver leaf on Arches 300gsm paper, courtesy of the artist.

 

 

Group Exhibitions | Highlighted Works

Destination North II
27 Jun – 22 Aug 2020

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Melanie Hava, Cassowaries and Juvenile Chicks, 2020, mixed media, Collection of the artist Melanie Hava, Meeting Place, 2019, mixed media, Collection of the artist Melanie Hava, Rainforest Rumours, 2019, mixed media, Collection of the artist Melanie Hava, Moongarrah Nest (turkey), 2019, mixed media, Collection of the artist Melanie Hava, Cassowary Meeting, 2019, mixed media, Collection of the artist  

ARTNOW FNQ 2019
13 Dec 2019 – 2 Feb 2020

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Melanie Hava, Barrier Reef Bubbles I, 2019, synthetic polymer paint and gold leaf on canvas, Purchased Cairns Art Gallery Foundation, 2020

 

 

 

Collection Works

Melanie Hava, Barrier Reef Bubbles I, 2019, synthetic polymer paint and gold leaf on canvas, Purchased Cairns Art Gallery Foundation, 2020
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    • Sun // 10:00am–2:00pm

The Cairns Art Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, names or voices of deceased persons in photographs, film or text.

The Cairns Art Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, names or voices of deceased persons in photographs, film or text.