The Armidale Rural Referral Hospital has been presented with a heartfelt art donation. An Aboriginal renal patient in the hospital for the past eight years, Ian Davis was delighted to have the opportunity to give something back to the hospital that he said has a “big family atmosphere”.
Following discussions at the recent NAIDOC activities on the grounds of the Armidale Hospital, a need to see some Aboriginal art displayed in the hospital was indentified. Service Manager, Dona Withnell, said that it is important the hospital is culturally appropriate, comfortable and welcoming for the local Aboriginal community. “We decided to approach Ian Davis, who is one of our long-term patients and a well-known artist within the hospital. He is always drawing and giving his pictures away. We provided the canvas and paints,” she said. “We are very proud of the end result and grateful to Ian for his contribution to the hospital.”
“The Aboriginal artwork is prominently displayed in the main corridor from the front of the hospital,” Ms Withnell said. “I hope this is the start of Ian being recognised as a beautiful artist in Armidale.”
Ian Davis was extremely proud to give something back to the hospital in his eighth year of renal dialysis, on behalf of himself and his community. “It’s a good feeling to give something back to the hospital. It is there for most of us, for when we’re crook.”
“My painting portrays travelling from place to place. The half-circles represent people sitting around a campfire, yarning and talking. The footprints in the painting represent their journey across the land to meet others,” he said.
“It takes hours, you know,” Mr Davis reflected. “You gotta take time and concentrate hard to get it right. You can’t just rush it and get it done in a day.”
Renal dialysis sees Mr Davis in a chair for six hours at a time, three days a week. With a laugh, he agreed that it means a lot of time to practise his art. “It’s a little like coming to a job. I tend to draw to keep myself busy. I give my drawings to patients and friends who come by, to help them to have a good day,” he said. “The staff in the Renal Unit are like family and look after us really well and we appreciate everything that they do. I’d like thank Dona, Debby and the whole hospital.”
The Aboriginal art donation demonstrates that the health service has come a long way in recent years, in terms of cultural awareness, according to Aboriginal Health Liaison Officer, Debby Mundy. “I think it shows that we’re moving forward towards closing the gap,” she said. “This all came about when I and my fellow Aboriginal Health workers noticed that there was nothing that Aboriginal people could identify with when they came into the Armidale hospital.
“We hope this doesn’t stop with this artwork. It would be good to see some more paintings from Ian and we’ve approached another local Aboriginal artist, Nick Levy,” Ms Mundy said.
