Melanie Hava / Cassowary & Cockatoos (MH634)

Melanie Hava was born in Mount Isa, Queensland, in 1982. Her Aboriginal name is Winden, meaning green pigeon. Through her mother’s line, Melanie is a Mamu woman of the Dulgu-barra and Wari-barra family groups, connected to the Johnstone River catchment of the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland and the adjoining Great Barrier Reef sea Country. Her father’s family comes from the historic Austrian city of Enns in Upper Austria.

Melanie’s art brings these two distinct cultural inheritances together. Her vivid depictions of rainforest, reef and Australian wildlife are layered with intricate pattern, metallic detail, gold and silver leaf and, at times, Swarovski crystal. These decorative elements reflect the influence of Austrian folk traditions, European architecture and artists such as Gustav Klimt, while the subjects of her paintings remain deeply connected to the landscapes, animals and stories of her mother’s Country.

Growing up deaf, Melanie often found refuge and freedom in drawing, painting, reading and playing the piano. As a teenager, she and her sister Joelene painted designs on didgeridoos and canvas, selling their work in the small opal-mining town of Yowah in western Queensland. The rich red soil and expansive outback landscape she experienced during this period continue to appear within her work.

Melanie began exploring ways to combine Aboriginal, folk and abstract art while still in her late teens and early twenties. After an early exhibition at Outback at Isa Gallery, she travelled to Austria at the age of 23 to live with her father’s family and immerse herself in European culture. She was particularly drawn to the elaborate patterns, architecture and gilded interiors she encountered there, gradually developing the fusion of Indigenous and European influences for which her work has become recognised.

After returning to Australia, Melanie settled in Cairns to be close to her mother’s Country and the rainforest and reef environments that inspire much of her work. Her paintings are filled with coral gardens, marine creatures, cassowaries, butterflies, birds, rainforest plants and flowing waterways. Although her work is joyful and visually abundant, it also expresses the importance of protecting the fragile ecosystems and living stories of the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef.

In 2023, Melanie received the Cairns RSL Artist Fellowship to develop Bugan Mungan, an ambitious nine-metre panoramic work on paper depicting the flora, waterways and ancestral presence of Mamu Country. The work marked an important development in her practice, bringing her grandmother’s stories together with Melanie’s direct observation of waterfalls, mountains, rivers and rainforest environments. It was presented in her first solo exhibition at Cairns Art Gallery and was subsequently acquired for the Gallery’s permanent collection.

Melanie expanded this work for her 2025 exhibition, Marngaree – Where Stories, Spirits and Country Meet, adding two five-metre panels to create an immersive triptych. The exhibition explored Marngaree, a traditional Dyribal word meaning “place to be together”, and reflected upon Mungalli Falls as a place of gathering, ancestral memory and belonging.

Alongside her original paintings and major exhibitions, Melanie has developed successful licensed collections with Australian fashion, jewellery, homeware, stationery and giftware companies. These collaborations have carried her rainforest, reef and wildlife imagery into clothing, wearable art, ceramics, textiles, journals, calendars and other products. She has also completed significant public and community projects for hospitals, shopping centres and arts initiatives.

In 2025, Melanie relocated to Canberra and joined the Australian Public Service as an Indigenous Apprentice within the Office for the Arts. She continues her art practice alongside this work and maintains her strong connection to family and Country in Far North Queensland.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

• 2025 – Marngaree – Where Stories, Spirits and Country Meet, Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns
• 2023–2024 – Bugan Mungan, Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns
• 2016 – Reflections, UMI Arts, Cairns
• 2016 – Reef and Rainforest, Aboriginal Art Gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 2015 – Mirages to Rainbows, Outback at Isa Gallery, Mt Isa
• 2014 – Fusion, Tosari Galleries
• 2013 – UnderArt Gallery, Cairns
• 2011 – Feature Artist, Tosari Galleries
• 2010 – From Dust to Thunder, Tosari Galleries, Toowoomba
• 2009 – Indigenously Austr(al)ian, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba
• 2005 – Migaloo Murri, Outback at Isa Gallery, Mount Isa

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• 2025 – Pay Attention, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
• 2024 – Listening to Country, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
• 2023 – WAMA Art Prize, Finalist, Ararat Art Gallery, Ararat
• 2021 – Me and UooUoo, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne Art Trail, Melbourne
• 2020 – Destination North: Works on Paper, Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns
• 2019 – Dream Big: A Small Artwork Collection, Aboriginal Art Gallery, Rotterdam
• 2019 – Art Markets, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
• 2019 – Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair with UMI Arts
• 2019 – ARTNOW FNQ 2019, Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns
• 2019 – Members’ Exhibition, UMI Arts, Cairns
• 2018 – Members’ Exhibition, UMI Arts, Cairns
• 2018 – Mt Isa Regional Art Gallery Opening, Mt Isa
• 2018 – Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair with UMI Arts
• 2018 – Art Markets, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
• 2017 – Members’ Exhibition, UMI Arts, Cairns
• 2017 – Manyung Gallery, Mount Eliza
• 2017 – Affordable Art Fair, Manyung Gallery, Hong Kong
• 2017 – Art Markets, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
• 2016 – Members’ Exhibition, UMI Arts, Cairns
• 2016 – UMI Arts Curated Exhibition, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
• 2016 – Art Markets with Indij Designs, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
• 2015 – Manyung Gallery, Mount Eliza
• 2015 – Tali Gallery, Rozelle
• 2015 – UMI Arts Exhibition, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair
• 2015 – UMI Arts Exhibition, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair
• 2014 – Manyung Gallery, Mount Eliza
• 2014 – Tali Gallery, Rozelle
• 2014 – Outback at Isa Gallery, Mount Isa
• 2014 – Quilpie Museum, Gallery and Visitor Information Centre, Quilpie
• 2013 – Manyung Gallery, Mount Eliza
• 2013 – Quilpie Museum, Gallery and Visitor Information Centre, Quilpie
• 2012 – Earth’s Elements, Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
• 2012 – Quilpie Museum, Gallery and Visitor Information Centre, Quilpie
• 2008 – Brisbane Women’s Club, Brisbane
• 2007 – Gulf of Carpentaria and Savannah Indigenous Dreamings and Lifestyle Exhibition

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

• 2023 – Cairns RSL Artist Fellowship
• 2023 – WAMA Art Prize Finalist

SELECTED COLLABORATIONS AND PUBLIC PROJECTS

2025 – Cairns Hospital Emergency Department
• A large reef installation developed with the department’s Cultural Safety Reference Group. Filled with brightly coloured fish, turtles and coral, the work was designed to create a calmer and more culturally welcoming environment for children and families.

2023 – Greenigo
• The Jigay, or Earth, Collection of sustainably produced wooden journals, notebooks and bookmarks featuring Melanie’s Australian bird and animal designs.

2023 – Smithfield Shopping Centre
• Coral Kaleidoscope, a large-scale reef artwork installed within the centre’s food court in Cairns.

2023 – Koh Living
• The Under the Sea homeware and gift collection, featuring reef-inspired designs including Depths of Dolphins and Journey of the Turtle across candle holders, travel mugs and other products.

2022 – Erstwilder
• A collection of 27 wearable-art designs inspired by Australian animals, marine life and the rainforest, produced as brooches, earrings, necklaces and rings.

2021 – BlackMilk Clothing
• The Jigay–Bana, or Earth–Water, fashion collection, created for NAIDOC Week and featuring Melanie’s interpretations of Australian rainforest, reef and wildlife. A portion of the collection’s initial sales supported the Reef Restoration Foundation.

2020 – Maxwell & Williams
• The Jugaig-Bana-Wabu, or Earth–Water–Rainforest, homewares collection, featuring Melanie’s artwork across mugs, coasters, tea towels and drink bottles.

2021 – Me and UooUoo Art Trail
• Melanie transformed a sculpture designed by Alexander Knox for the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne Art Trail.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Cairns Art Gallery Collection, including:

• Bugan Mungan, 2023
• Barrier Reef Bubbles I, 2019

The monumental Bugan Mungan was purchased by Cairns Art Gallery following Melanie’s 2023–2024 solo exhibition.