About Me

Donna Lawrence

Donna is an accomplished and passionate Artist residing in the Whitsunday Region of Queensland, her work centers around the themes disadvantage, prejudice, language, and mental health.

” I hope that my work will reach people who have experienced mental illness, and people who have not. It is ultimately an issue that affects us all.”

Education

Diploma of Art Therapy Health and Harmony College, Brisbane, Current

Masters of Visual Arts Monash University Victoria, 2004-2005

Graduate Diploma of Education Monash University Victoria, 1998

Graduate Diploma of Painting Monash University Victoria, 1996

Bachelor of Art (Fine Art) Latrobe University Victoria, 1991-1994

Awards

Year 10, 11, 12, First Year Latrobe University Awards

2nd Year Latrobe University Kodak Award for Photography

2007 ‘Open Doors, Open Minds’ Award DADAA Western Australia

Access Arts Achievement Award 2024

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

Straight Up Red Gallery
Melbourne, 2014

To Live is to Fight The Dax Centre Gallery
Melbourne, 2012

Hilarity of Pain 4 Cats Gallery
Melbourne, 2006

Contemporary Mythology Soho Gallery
Sydney, 2001

Struggle With Language Soho Gallery
Sydney, 2000

Light and Shade – a visual exploration of DBT
Belco Arts, Canberra, 2024

Light and Shade
Whitsundays, 2024

Group Exhibitions | The Dax Centre

Donna has been an important contributor in many group exhibitions in the Dax Centre Gallery in Melbourne over the last decade: The Dax Centre raises public awareness of artists with lived experience of mental illness important cultural contributions, challenging stigma towards mental health and promoting conversation surrounding it.

Donna has been centrally featured in these exhibitions:

Speaking Out
Creative Contexts
Compassion and Commitment: Starting form Home
Disquiet Minds
Melancholia
A Mind Beginning to Know Itself
Canvassing Emotions
Hide and Seek
Giving Voice

Collections

The Dax Centre, Melbourne (The Cunningham Dax Collection)

Latrobe University, Bendigo

Kerford Psychiatry Unit, Wangaratta Base Hospital, Victoria

Alma Street Centre and Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia

Flynn Psychiatric Inpatient Unit, Latrobe Regional Hospital, Traralgon, Victoria

ACON, Sydney

Domestic Violence and Resource Centre, Melbourne, Victoria

Soho Gallery, Sydney

VCOSS, Melbourne

Private Collections

Publications

2018 Australian Psychiatry, Volume 26 Number 1, February 2018

2016 Australian Psychiatry, Volume 24 Number 5, October 2016

2014 Australasian Psychiatry, February 2014 – Front Cover

2013 Coercive Care. B, McSherry and I. Freckleton. Cover illustration

2012 3 volumes. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law journal. Australia

2011 Understanding Troubled Minds, Sidney Bloch. Melbourne University press

2011 Melancholia, The Dax Centre, C. Shultz

2011 NP, Autumn

2010 New Paradigm, Mental Health and the Justice System 2010 Rethinking rights‐based mental health laws. B, McSherry and P, Weller. Cover Illustration.

2010 PPL Vol. 17 Issue 2 – front cover

2010 PPL Vol. 17 Issue 1 – Front cover

2010 An Australian Feminist Journal. Issue 22.CASA

2009 PPL Vol. 16 Issue 1 – Front Cover

2005 The British Journal of Psychiatry. November 2005 Vol. 187

1998 Blue (not only Blue) Studio Magazines Pty.Ltd Australia

1995 Martina’s Women’s Refuge Melbourne. Annual General Report