Kathryn Dalmer ‘kdal’

Artist Kathryn Dalmer is of the Gawthorne Ward line of the Three Rivers Tribe, Wiradjuri Nation - the largest original nation in what is known as NSW.

Kathryn Dalmer ‘kdal’

Artist Kathryn Dalmer is of the Gawthorne Ward line of the Three Rivers Tribe, Wiradjuri Nation - the largest original nation in what is known as NSW.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural and Health Training Framework > Artworks > Kathryn Dalmer ‘kdal’

Despite spending much time on country and holding a deep connection to culture, Kathryn hasn’t lived on country for any length of time.

“My family was dispersed across NSW and south-east Queensland as a result of actions associated with the white Australia policy. Somehow we have retained and regained our connection to country, culture and each other.”

A contemporary Indigenous artist, a mother of three amazing daughters, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, an aunty. “I am also an active community member, mentor, counsellor, social worker, and medical doctor.

“My journey as an exhibiting artist began whilst living on Eora country and sitting with the amazing Yuin and Gadigal women of La Parouse.

“Connecting with each other and our culture through our art is something that we foster and hold dearly in our family.”

Kathryn’s art is an expression of “all the things that I am and all the things that I channel – my culture, our history, our land, our spirit.

“I use a combination of traditional Aboriginal symbols and styles with contemporary imagery and colours using acrylic on canvas, on stretched canvas images of my original photography or 3D objects such a vases.”

‘Workforce Development’

The landscape rainbow colours within this Serpent are separated in a progressive lineal design to represent stages of the GP workforce and individual career development in becoming a Fellowed general practitioner.

The GP ‘Workforce Development’ journey begins with our first concepts of profession and career in high school (red). The next two stages represented, Allied Health professionals (ochre) and undergraduate tertiary education (golden), are not always a lineal progression, and are included here as important progressive steps of GP career development and pools for GP recruitment. These are both areas where increased exposure to general practice as a career occur. Undertaking a medical degree (green), junior doctor training (blue-green) and being a GP registrar are lineal progressive steps. All the knowledge and experience from these components come together in the art of undertaking general practice (rainbow colours of the neck) and culminate in our practice of being Fellowed general practitioners within RACGP (corporate teal of the Serpent head).

Traditional x-ray art has also been used in this piece to demonstrate the deep history of healing and medicine within our first nations cultures. This has always involved a connection to the animals, lands and spirits. Look closely to identify the Serpent’s heart, lungs and GI tract. Workforce Development is multi-layered. The heart and soul of each individual is what it is made of.
Strong connections to each other, our history and our culture are essential components for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce.

‘Training Pipeline’

In this piece, the rainbow colours within the Serpent are represented along its length. All colours run alongside each other as elements of our lives and life journeys run along congruently and become increasingly defined as separate elements of us as we grow and develop as individuals. This represents the influences of the GP training pipeline as it is comprised of and impacted by various aspects of life including personal growth, our community roles and family responsibilities, and our professional growth and career development. Progression towards being Fellowed general practitioners is represented by the teal colour of the head of the Serpent, the corporate colour of our College, RACGP.

The symbols surrounding and woven amongst this coiled Serpent are representations of the various influences on that pipeline.
Traditional symbols of family and kinship groups are both at the centre of the piece, and at the bottom right. The top left symbol shows communities and connections between communities while other symbols dispersed within the coil show meeting places, families, smaller gatherings and People connecting. Communities, education, group learning, mentorship and a sense of belonging are essential to being a GP.

The influence starts with our first exposure to healthcare as babies with our parents and care givers. Various touch points and influences along and surrounding the curves of the coiled Serpent contribute to opportunities for career progression in either clinical general practice, supervision, medical education and research. This Serpent and the surrounding symbols are a visual representation of the nature of general practice, and the unextractable influences individual practitioner, patients,
families, communities and the RACGP as a college have on each other. These influences are emphasised when we consider our Indigenous workforce Training Pipeline.