Art brings Mob together
Family Partnership Workers, Aunty Kim Ah Sam and Tanniell Stewart
Australian Nurse Family Partnership (ANFPP) Institute of Urban of Indigenous Health (IUIH) South in Goodna, Queensland have been incorporating art into their activities with mums and community. In doing so, they have created works of art that would be at home on display in galleries.
Aunty Kim Ah Sam, who is a Family Partnership Worker (FPW) Team Leader and an artist in her own right, led the art projects.
She is well-qualified, as she holds a Fine Arts Honors Degree in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art.
‘Falling Waters’ necklace was an ANFPP staff, client and community project - The belly cast is made from plaster of Paris, PVA glue, sand, glitter, twine and teal rope. The necklace is made from silver, various seed beads, and headpins with ball and jump rings.
Community Necklace
Aunty Kim explains how ‘Falling Waters’ - a seed-beaded necklace, that was created as a community-wide project - came about.
“ANFPP staff, clients during home visits, clients during community days, IUIH Goodna health staff and our wider ANFPP community all had a hand in creating this work of art,” says Aunty Kim.
“The belly casts were painted by us staff members here at ANFPP South, as they were unclaimed bellies that had been left here for the past few years by previous clients,” says FPW Tanniell Stewart.
“It contains about 175 pieces of beads. What we did was put them in containers, wrapped them up and gave them to every nurse and FPW to take with them on home visits.
“So, even if the mum just gets one little thing done, then she has contributed.
“The necklace represents the feelings of calmness and peace as the water connects to the sand, allowing your feet to be grounded.
“This helps decrease stress levels as the softness of the sand can be a therapeutic process.”
The left side of this belly cast from a pregnant former client represents Torres Strait Islander culture.
The right side of the belly cast represents Aboriginal culture.
“It was collaboration in our community – with not just our Indigenous but our non-Indigenous staff. It was a nice exhibition piece,” says Aunty Kim.
FPW Tanniell Stewart says “Community members that support our mums and that we engage with - like lawyers, occupational therapists, dieticians, diabetic educators, paediatricians and Centrelink staff - they all contributed.
FPW Kylie Soe painted this belly cast with the help of one of her clients.
Beaded coiled bracelets and beaded necklaces in colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
Decorated seed pods.
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The Australian Nurse-Family Partnership Program (ANFPP) National Support Service (NSS) acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands and waters on which we live and work. We pay respect to elders past and present. We further acknowledge that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and communities are diverse and dynamic and continue to evolve and develop in response to historical and present social, economic, cultural and political circumstances.
Diversity includes gender, age, languages, backgrounds, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, family responsibilities, marriage status, life and work experiences, personality and educational levels (Commonwealth of Australia, 2013)