At the FVProject I welcome you to explore wellness through art and nature.
Growing up on the Murrumbidgee River in Wiradjuri country my parents taught me to love and respect nature: communing with nature was encouraged.
When I don’t have a place in nature to frequent and find solace, it was, and is, art that enables me to reconnect to the interconnected nature of humanity and all Nature.

Growing older and becoming more aware of our history, the importance and value of Aboriginal Australia has become ever clearer to me: more than 40,000 years of continuous cultural wisdom and living in harmony with nature. That’s at least 34,000 years longer than the removed awareness that exists through archaeology of my Celtic roots in the ritual landscape of Stonehenge, and other megalithic sites. Yet something has passed down to me through my inheritance of encouragement to commune with nature and the collective shared knowledge of nature wisdom of my elders – whether by listening, reading, or understanding the depth of wisdom in fairy tales, folk lore, myth, symbolism and art history, and it is in this space that I respectfully share Wayapa Wuurrk.

As a non-indigenous Australian I respect the uniqueness of Aboriginal Australians’ relationship to this country. Wayapa Wuurrk acknowledges that we all have ancestral roots (maybe a long way back!) in traditional ways of living in harmony with the earth and because of this embracing acknowledgement I was able to train and receive my Diploma as a Wayapa Practitioner. Walking and working together, we can all be stewards of the earth: Wayapa Wuurrk shows us how.

I also have an Advanced Diploma of Transpersonal Art Therapy with an interest in fostering therapeutic connection to the natural world, a BA of Visual Arts and a Post Graduate Diploma of Painting.
I have practised yoga for many years and studied Tibetan Buddhism during a time of personal challenge; a profound experience that resonated with memories of the feeling of nature connection from my childhood. Therefore, I was immediately drawn to Wayapa Wuurrk and am eternally grateful to Jamie and Sara for giving us this beautiful earth connection practise that is Australian.