• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Youtube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • DONATE

Flying Arts Alliance

Art for Life

  • About
    • Our Founder
    • Our Patrons, Board and Team
    • Governance
    • Partners
    • Archives
    • Alumni Testimonials
    • Contact Us
  • What’s On
    • FLYING ARTISTRY PROJECT
    • Programs
      • Annual Program
      • For Artists + Artsworkers
      • For Educators
      • For Young Artists
      • Past Webinars
  • News
    • Flying Arts News
    • Email Newsletter Sign-Up
    • Media
    • Photo Gallery
      • 2025 Exhibitions
        • 2025 Emerging Artists Award Exhibition Opening
        • Resolution and the Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Award Touring Exhibition Opening in Cairns
        • 2025 Art for Life Opening by Bernard Singleton & Simone Arnol
      • 2024 Exhibitions
        • NAOMI HOBSON SOLO EXHIBITION OPENING
        • COLINA WYMARRA SOLO EXHIBITION OPENING
        • Michelle Le Plastrier Solo Exhibition Opening
        • Clare Jaque Vasquez Solo Exhibition Opening
        • Lincoln Austin Solo Exhibition Opening
        • 2024 QRAA Gala
        • 2023 QRAA Perspective Touring Exhibition Cairns Court House Gallery
      • 2023 Exhibitions
        • 2023 QRAA Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Award Exhibition at Mitchel Fine Art Gallery
        • 2023 QRAA Emerging Artist Award Exhibition Opening
        • 2023 QRAA Gala
        • 2023 QRAA LAUNCH EVENT
      • 2022 Exhibitions
        • 2022 QRAA GALA
        • 2022 Mervyn Moriarty Exhibition
        • 2022 Rosella Namok Exhibition
  • Membership
    • Standard Membership
    • Accredited Membership (Includes Insurance)
      • Visual Artists and Practitioners
      • Installers and Conservators
      • Arts Administrators, Arts Project Coordinators
      • Writers
      • Musicians
    • Member Benefits
  • QRAA
    • 2024: QRAA – Winners Announcement
    • 2024: QRAA – Finalists Announcement
    • Previous Years QRAA
  • Exhibitions
    • QRAA Touring Exhibition
      • RESOLUTION
      • Previous QRAA Tours
    • The Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Exhibition
      • 2025 The Mervy Moriarty Landscape Award Touring Exhibition
      • 2024 TOURING EXHIBITION
      • 2023 QRAA Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Award Exhibition at Mitchel Fine Art Gallery
      • The Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Exhibition 2022
    • The Emerging Artist Award Finalists
    • Previous Exhibitions
  • Grants
    • Regional Arts Fund
    • Other Funding Support
  • By Request
    • Case Studies
    • For Creative Communities
    • For Schools
    • For Artists and Creatives
  • Search

Kuweni Dias Mendis

(L-R) Kuweni Dias Mendis, Penelope Ashmore and Amanda Bennetts.

Kuweni Dias Mendis, Artist 
Beechmont, SEQ

I am Kuweni, a Sri Lankan born and raised contemporary drawing artist living and working out of Beechmont in Wagerriburra Country. 

 

My first encounter with Flying Arts Alliance was when I was selected as a finalist in the 2019 Queensland’s arts award themed “ State of Diversity”. This opportunity validated my art and gave me the confidence to make me want to share  it with more people. 

 

Since then I have attended eight professional development courses by Flying Arts to broaden my skills in the areas of exhibiting, branding, professionalising my practice, project planning and scoping, career mapping, grant writing , and seven arts consultations with industry experts. 

 

My inherent creative expression balanced with intellectual stimulation and critical thinking due to undertaking these programs led me to deeply  understand myself  as an artist and my practice.  I was able to develop a strategic new project  called Running Rivers which was supported by the Australian Government through the Regional Arts Fund. Running Rivers is a contemporary landscape arts project exploring themes of belonging, cultural and environmental regeneration and emotional recovery that documents the progress of the river through a multidisciplinary series of drawings, paintings, fibre art and film.

 

 

As a migrant woman, I have been able to find a community of artists where I feel I belong and matter.

In 2022, I will undertake a solo pilgrimage along the waterways and document my connection to place through my practice.  In 2023, I will create an exhibition consisting of an interactive, multidisciplinary ritual installation and through a community-engaged shared pilgrimage, co-creating a collection of participatory artwork. 

 

Each of these carefully curated courses and meaningful conversations helped me take  my rightful place as a migrant woman of colour and culture within the Queensland’s arts ecology with a decolonized revolutionary artist voice. 

 

Singular most impactful experience is when I completed a “Where to Next” workshop with Dr Cathryn Lloyd which was recommended to me by Bruce Heiser, a Board Member of Flying Arts during a one-on-one professional consultation. At this course I had that moment of truth, a realization that I am ready to do the work, to be the professional artist I was born to be. 

 

As a migrant woman, I have been able to find a community of artist where I feel I belong and matter. The inclusivity and the cultural safety that this institution has shown me has enabled me to bring my whole self without reducing my self to fit in to a mould of a place. 

 

It’s so important that institutions such as flying arts with this human-centered  leadership gets funding to empower more people of colour and culture take their rightful place to bring diversity and richness to the arts ecology of Queensland.


Read more stories of how Flying Arts has supported the regional Queensland arts community

Filed Under: Our Community Testimonies

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Flying Arts Alliance acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands and seas on which we work, live and create. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Flying Arts Alliance is honoured to acknowledge the Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency Dr Jeanette Young AC PSM as our Patron. We also acknowledge Mr Tim Fairfax AC and Mrs Gina Fairfax AC as our Cultural Patrons.

Flying Arts is a not-for-profit organisation inspiring the appreciation, practice and professional development of the visual and media arts as a lifetime interest or career throughout regional and remote Queensland.

Flying Arts is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Flying Arts is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funds from Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund. Flying Arts is supported by corporate partners and benefactors.

Flying Arts is the administrator in Queensland of the Regional Arts Fund (RAF), an Australian Government program provided through Regional Arts Australia.

Footer

Quick Links

  • Flying Arts News
  • Terms Of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Touring Team Portal

Contact Us

Ph: +61 7 3216 1322
Email: admin@flyingarts.org.au

Support Us

Support Flying Arts Alliance
by donating to the
Art for Life Giving Fund.
Donations above $2
are tax deductible.

Follow Us

  • Youtube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin

© 2025 · Flying Arts Alliance · Website by Shortie Designs

Cookies help us to deliver our services. By using our services, you consent to our use of cookies. Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
 

    X
    X