For Juanella Donovan (née McKenzie), art has never been separate from family, culture or Country. They are intertwined, each informing the other, each strengthening the stories she tells through her work.

An Adnyamathanha, Luritja and Lower Southern Arrernte woman now living with her Husband Michael and their children on her family's homelands at Yappala Station in South Australia's Flinders Ranges, Juanella has spent her life creating.

Her earliest memories are of being surrounded by artists, storytellers and strong Aboriginal women, particularly her mother, acclaimed artist Regina McKenzie, who remains one of her greatest mentors and collaborators.

In 2024, Juanella was selected amongst the cohort of artists to receive a National Regional Arts Fellowship, a program that is contemporary, flexible and relevant to artists practicing, working and living in regional, rural and remote Australia. It is designed as an applicant-led approach, addressing the needs of the individual in that time and place; offering a guaranteed income (for a short period) for an artist / practitioner to develop their work, skills and networks or research.

The National Regional Arts Fellowship Program is a strategic project supported by the Australian Government Regional Arts Fund and delivered by Regional Arts Australia. Fellowships provide guaranteed income for regional artists and arts workers to develop work, skills, networks, or research.

Growing up, she watched her mother establish Yarta Arts in the Flinders Ranges and spent countless hours listening to stories shared by Elders and community members. Art was never simply a creative pursuit; it was a way of preserving knowledge, maintaining connection to culture and strengthening community.

Today, that same philosophy underpins her own practice and the way she raises her four children, Ngarlaa 13, Ngayan 11, Ngintaka 10 and Ngadaam 2 who have grown up surrounded by artworks, weaving materials and creative projects.

"Our house is our studio," she laughs. "There are boxes and materials and projects everywhere. The kids are used to it."

It was during one of the busiest and most transformative periods of her life that Juanella received the National Regional Arts Fellowship. Pregnant with her fourth child and preparing for motherhood once again, she had already been carrying an idea that would eventually become Mother, a major multi-piece installation exploring womanhood, identity, family and cultural connection through woven emu feathers.

The project had come to her in the way many of her works do.

"Mother's something I had been dreaming of," she says. "A lot of my art pieces, I will see them in my dreams and then work out a way to bring them into the real world."

Inspired by memories of learning the Seven Sisters dance as a young girl, by the women who had guided her throughout her life, and by her own experience as a mother, Juanella envisioned a work that would honour not only her immediate family, but generations of women connected through culture and Country.

When she first saw the National Regional Arts Fellowship advertised, it seemed to appear everywhere.

"It kept popping up online," she says. "Friends and family kept mentioning it to me. I thought, I'm going to give this a go."

Receiving the fellowship arrived at exactly the right moment for Juanella. Her son was born a mere four days before receiving the successful news from Regional Arts Australia.

For many artists, the challenge is not a lack of ideas but finding the time, resources and space to fully realise them. For Juanella, balancing creative practice with raising four children meant that space was especially precious.

The fellowship provided more than financial support. It provided freedom.

"It gave me a huge sense of relief," she says. "Regional Arts Australia allowed me the room to develop my idea. I had the financial means to support the artist development and networking that I needed in order to reach the goal."

The timing was particularly significant. While creating Mother, Juanella was also navigating the realities of maternity leave, caring for a newborn and raising her other children. Rather than keeping those worlds separate, they became inseparable.

She wove the work throughout the family home.

"There were feathers everywhere," she says. "I wove her in my bed, on my kitchen table, on my couch."

Her children became part of the process, helping with sections of the work, passing materials and contributing to the atmosphere that shaped its creation. Her youngest son, born around the time she learned she had been awarded the fellowship, became woven into the story itself. 

"I've got photos of me weaving while breastfeeding him," she says. "It was really inclusive of my family."

Looking back, Juanella becomes emotional when describing that period.

"It's hard to put into words just how much that time meant to me."

The fellowship also enabled her to connect with First Nations women across South Australia and beyond, gathering stories, exchanging weaving knowledge and exploring shared experiences of motherhood, culture and identity.

What struck her most was how similar those conversations were, regardless of geography.

"I sat down with women from Adelaide, women still living on Country and women on the east coast, and the one connection I could find between all of them was family and that connection to culture and each other," she says. "I thought that was just so beautiful."

Those conversations became the heart of Mother.

When the finished work was first exhibited through APY Gallery's Generation Next exhibition in Adelaide, Juanella experienced a moment she will never forget.

Standing alongside the installation she had spent months creating, surrounded by family, she felt an overwhelming sense of pride.

"I felt like I'd accomplished something that meant something," she says.

The work represented far more than an artistic achievement. It carried the memories of her own childhood, the teachings of her mother and Elders, the experiences of the women she had met throughout the fellowship and the everyday realities of raising a young family.

"Thinking about all the late nights working with her, trying to do a feeding routine with my baby, trying to sort things out with my other kids, and I still finished her," she says. "It was a big moment in my life as a mum, as a daughter, as a wife."

The success of Mother extended far beyond that first exhibition. The work has continued to travel, appearing in major exhibitions and attracting widespread attention, while helping to elevate Juanella's profile nationally.

Yet when she reflects on the fellowship's impact, she is less interested in talking about career milestones than the confidence it gave her to pursue ambitious ideas.

Since completing the fellowship, Juanella's career has continued to flourish. She has received significant awards and opportunities, including selection for the Tamworth Textile Triennial, where she is creating another major installation exploring cultural heritage, significant women's sites and the importance of preserving knowledge for future generations.

Her mother now serves as an Elder consultant on the project, while her children remain active participants in her creative life.

The fellowship, she says, continues to influence the way she approaches her work.

"The knowledge I learned in that fellowship, I'm using now in all these other projects," she says. "It just keeps on giving."

Perhaps most importantly, Juanella believes the benefits of the fellowship extended well beyond her own career.

"People should think about the people around them," she says. "Yes, the artist is the one that's the fellow, but it gives so much benefit to the community that's around them because they get to participate in it as well."

That ripple effect is already visible.

Juanella Donovan Upcoming Exhibitions #

• Our Mob 2026
  Location: Adelaide Festival Theatre Galleries, Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Street, Adelaide
  Exhibition dates: Friday 10 July 2026 to Sunday 4 October 2026
  
• The TJUKURPA KUNPU (strong dreaming ) Exhibition
  Location: the Hawke Centre
  Exhibition dates: 2nd July to the 31st July 2026.
  Curated by: emerging Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Arrernte, and Gurindji curator Marli Macumba
  
• Held
  A group exhibition featuring First Nations artists Jouella Coulthard, Juanella Donovan and Lisa Khan.
  Opening event: Wednesday, July 29, 5-7:30pm The Mill's Galleries, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
  
• Nature Machine: The 6th Tamworth Textile Triennial
  Location: Tamworth regional gallery then tour nationally 3 years

This year, Juanella's daughters were accepted into the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards with a collaborative multimedia work, continuing a family tradition that stretches back generations.

Seeing younger artists develop their confidence brings her just as much joy as her own achievements.

"It's not just about you," she says. "When you see those young people achieving for themselves, and you know how proud they feel, that gives me so much joy."

When asked what advice she would offer future applicants, she returns to a simple philosophy that has guided her own journey.

"You have the choice to stay where you are in your little safety box, or you have the opportunity to live by 'what if'," she says.

"What if you make it? What happens if they say yes?"

It is a question that has carried her from regional South Australia to some of the country's most significant exhibitions and awards. It is also a question she hopes other artists will ask themselves.

For Juanella, saying yes to that possibility changed everything.

And for the rest of her life, she says, she will remain grateful for the fellowship that gave her the space to dream, the support to create and the confidence to believe that those dreams could become real.