Leah is an Aboriginal woman born in Canberra, ACT. Leah’s mob are Kamilaroi from her Grandmothers country in the Gunnedah region. Leah is a self-taught contemporary Aboriginal artist and began painting at a very young age. She has been painting in a professional capacity since 2013. Leah is a mother to two young children and also works as a Cultural Integrity Coordinator and Indigenous Education Officer with the ACT Education Directorate.
A great deal of Leah’s artistic vision and inspiration comes from the changing landscapes in her home town, on country and from her journeys to ocean country and beyond. Leah uses layers of fine dotting, line work, colour gradients, symbolism and her signature style of ‘cracked earth’ landscape throughout her paintings. Her country is often dry and cracked, but rich and deep in history, culture and story as represented by the space in between the cracked earth.
Leah’s paintings often work between two perspectives; landscape and birds-eye view. Through a birds-eye view, Leah generally maps the journeys in which she takes, along with her ancestral and cultural ties. As Leah learns more about her culture and discovering her ancestors’ footprints in the landscape, she feels the urge to paint her story and her sense of place through paying attention to colour, detail, natural patterns, light, shade and texture in the landscape.
