The Garden We Grew: Art, care and connection at Anam Cara Geelong
Art therapy as presence and expression
The exhibition The Garden We Grew: Anam Cara Geelong showcases artworks created by guests of Anam Cara’s day program, as part of its art therapy initiative led by Deakin alumna Lucy Rae (BA Fine Art, 2022).
Using materials such as paper collage, watercolour, soft pastels, and mindfulness-based techniques like mandalas and neurographica (a therapeutic art method that uses abstract drawing), participants explore themes of identity, memory, and emotion. Sessions are often inspired by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse, both artists who are associated with the Post-Impressionist art movement which favoured symbolism and centred colour as a reaction to feeling, or by natural metaphors such as flowers and trees.
Located at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds Campus, Anam Cara Geelong offers holistic palliative care in a purpose-built facility designed to meet the needs of individuals and families. It also provides a unique opportunity for Deakin students from the School of Medicine and Faculty of Health to gain hands-on experience in a compassionate clinical setting.
History of creative art therapy
The exhibition includes a piece written by Dr Shelley Hannigan, Senior Lecturer (Arts Education), in Deakin’s School of Education examining academic approaches to creative art therapy. Art therapy began in Australia in the 1970s, inspired by international pioneers and emerging from psychotherapy and creative healing. Early approaches focused on exploring emotion through image-making, influenced by both psychodynamic and humanistic traditions. As the field developed, formal training programs were established, and Australian art therapy embraced a range of perspectives, including Gestalt (which focusses on feelings within the present moment) and trauma-informed practices, while honouring Indigenous cultures and storytelling traditions.
A celebration of life through art
The exhibition features both individual and collaborative works. In The Garden We Grew, guests have painted flowers that represent themselves, forming a vibrant canvas of individuality and interconnection. In A Moment of Joy, each tile reflects a cherished memory – family meals, gardens, football games – stitched together into a collective patchwork of life well lived.
These artworks honour the theme Live Well, Die Well, reminding us that creativity continues to flourish even in life’s final chapters. Art therapy offers a space to reflect, to share, and to simply be.
Deakin medical students explore art therapy in palliative care
Ahead of The Garden We Grew exhibition installation, Deakin University School of Medicine students participated in workshops on art therapy in palliative care, led by Anam Cara Geelong Art Therapist, Lucy Rae and Spiritual Carer, Jo Betz.
The sessions introduced students to holistic palliative care principles through guided, mindfulness-based art therapy. Creating neurographic artworks, students explored end-of-life communication, emotional expression, and the ways mindfulness and creative therapies can complement medical practice.
The workshops highlighted how creative approaches can support emotional wellbeing, connection, and dignity at the end of life. Students reflected on the value of creative therapies in fostering emotional processing, self-regulation, and stress relief, and expressed enthusiasm for incorporating these approaches into their future medical practice.
Visit the exhibition
The Garden We Grew: Anam Cara Geelong is on display at the Waterfront Gallery, Alfred Deakin Prime Ministerial Library. It is a testament to the enduring spirit of those who create, connect, and care. The exhibition invites us to reflect on how we live, how we support one another, and how art can help us navigate life’s final chapters with grace.
Exhibition details
Location: Waterfront Gallery, Alfred Deakin Prime Ministerial Library
Dates: 24 November 2024 – 29 March 2026
Learn more about the exhibition and visit the exhibition event page.
