Join us at The Dax Centre to celebrate the opening of Internal Landscapes, a new First Nations emerging art exhibition in collaboration with The Wilin Centre, supported by City of Melbourne arts grants.

Internal Landscapes presents four emerging First Nations artists - Alena Landers, Anna Ellis, Laiken Jackson and Tupun Wultatinyeri - who each identify with a lived experience of mental health or trauma. The exhibition explores the important role that creative practice plays in each artist’s mental wellbeing, especially in processing emotions and experiences, creating a sense of purpose and motivation, feeling in control, and connecting to Country and culture.

With a strong focus on repetition and meditative processes, the artists find healing and clarity through their practices, helping to navigate their internal landscapes. This can be discovered in the meticulous line work in Wultatinyeri’s representations of Country, the methodical production of Lander’s hundreds of hand-made paper works, the rehearsal of movement required in the development of Jackson’s performances and the therapeutic nature of wool preparation and felting as demonstrated by Ellis.

Internal Landscapes honors the strength, depth, and innovation of First Nations ways of being, knowing, creating, and caring for self and spirit.

This is an exciting event to support rising First Nations artists and explore new stories of lived experience through original artworks.

Event Information:
WHEN: Wednesday 18th June 2025, 6-8PM.

LOCATION: The Dax Centre, 30 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC. (Ground floor of the Kenneth Myer Building)

This is a free event. Refreshments will be provided.

The gallery is fully accessible, with accessible toilets available.

For information on parking and travelling to the gallery:

Visit us - The Dax Centre

Artist Information:

Tupun Wultatinyeri:

Tupun Wultatinyeri is a Ngarrindjeri/Kukabrak artist born in Adelaide, raised in the Riverland of South Australia who creates topographical landscapes of his country. It is important for Tupun Wultatinyeri to reclaim and share his culture through his art practice.

Tupun Wultatinyeri began painting in November of 2022 as a way of trying to find peace and found it successful. Today, he continues to use acrylic paint on canvas to escape from everything that drags him down. He favours greens, blues and yellows in his works because they remind him of the vegetation, waters and sands back home.

Anna Ellis:

I am a fibre artist whose work explores the intersections of history, land, and personal narrative through the medium of wool. Rooted in an intuitive, process-driven practice, my work reclaims a material that shaped the colonial foundations of my Country, transforming it into a vehicle for connection, reflection, and healing.

Drawing upon natural and botanical dyeing, felting, and other fibre techniques, pieces emerge in the moment—spontaneous yet deeply informed by landscape, both physical and emotional. My practice is an act of reclamation, re-engaging with the land through the very fibre it was once farmed to exploit. Each piece carries echoes of place, memory, and transformation, embodying the rhythms of nature and the stories woven into the land itself.

Central to my work is the exploration of intergenerational trauma and the ongoing impact of colonialism. Through the tactile, meditative process of working with wool, I confront inherited wounds and collective histories, offering space for personal and communal reflection. I feel my art is a living map of resilience and continuity, where threads of loss, survival, and renewal are gathered, honoured, and reimagined.

Instagram: @anna.ellis.fibrearts

Alena Landers:

I am Alena Landers, a proud Noongar and Djugun multi-media artist. While my home and Country is Broome, I am currently a guest on Wurundjeri Country, where I am completing a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Indigenous Studies. My studies continue to influence my creative practice, encouraging me to critically engage with systems of power and cultural survival. My work is deeply personal, rooted in family, home, and lived experience, and often explores themes of identity, healing, and resistance.

Growing up with limited resources taught me to be resourceful in my creative practice. I work primarily with found, recycled, and repurposed materials—transforming what is discarded into something meaningful and intimate. This process reflects my values and connection to both cultural resilience and sustainability.

My practice shifts fluidly between mediums depending on what calls to me in the moment. I’ve explored mediums such as drawing, image collaging, painting, mosaics, sewing, embroidery, eco-dyeing, and printmaking to name a few. Currently, I’m immersed in the art of papermaking as I’m drawn to the way handmade paper holds texture, colour and memory. In exploring this medium more, I’ve been experimenting with raw fibres, organic and geometric shapes, and natural dyes.

Instagram: @lenny's_w0rld

Laiken Jackson

Laiken Jackson is an interdisciplinary artist, choreographer, dancer, and circus artist who blends movement, narrative, and visual arts in unique ways. With training from both the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) and the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Laiken combines contemporary and street dance with circus skills to create immersive performances and installations that captivate audiences.

Laiken enjoys working across a variety of mediums, often mixing physical theatre, acrobatics, and multimedia to bring stories to life in unexpected ways. Their work explores themes like human connection, vulnerability, and transformation, drawing from personal experiences and a deep love for movement. Laiken’s approach is all about using dance and circus to push boundaries and spark conversations about identity, personal expression, and the power of movement to tell meaningful stories.

Instagram: @Laiken.jackson

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Instagram: @daxcentre @thewilincentre

LinkedIn: @DaxCentre

Get in touch!

Please email info@daxcentre.org with any questions or call 9349 2538.