2009 Indigenous Visual Art Outstanding Entry

Anjee-Lee Solomon

Strong Heart, Strong Soul, Strong Black Woman

(Acrylic on canvas - 50cm x 70cm)

Artist's Statement

My story is about a strong black woman named Elizabeth Von Roehl. Her fight with cancer lasted over 10 years. Her fight ended in 2008. Liz’s passing was sad but she lived to see her daughter get married and that’s all she wanted. She was a proud black woman and celebrated her culture through art. My painting is about Liz and other strong black women fighting the disease. In my painting Liz holds her breast  where the cancer started. Her wings are her support and in the end carried her to heaven and the background is about her tough journey and the fight for her life.

Judge's Comments

“Strong Heart, Strong Soul, Strong Black Woman” is a very powerful, graphic depiction of one woman’s experience of cancer. In the painting an Aboriginal woman, Elizabeth is seated in the centre, supported or embraced by two large wings. Her large wings are her support & we are told they “carried her to heaven”. She is painted up with traditional markings ready for the next life as befits the “warrior woman” & artist that she was in life. The painting shows Elizabeth surrounded by two spirals of life image: symbolizing the tough journey she was on the last ten years of her life & the fight for her life. This is a strong work for a strong woman who lived to see her daughter married. Very moving.

Judge: Lee Darroch Yorta Yorta Woman and Indigenous Artist

Indigenous Visual Art Commendations

Rex Murray	Highly Commended
Francis Gallagher	Highly Commended
Verna Eade	Commended
Gwen Garoni	Commended
Marlene Gilson	Commended
Margaret Ogston	Commended

 

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