Care for Country designed by Gubbi Gubbi artist Maggie-Jean Douglas has been selected as the 2021 National NAIDOC Week poster competition winner.

Maggie-Jean Douglas wanted to create an artwork which showed how Country has cared for and healed First Nations people in all senses.

‘When creating Care for Country, I kept in mind that this meant spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially and culturally’ she said.

‘I chose to create a bright and vibrant artwork that included the different colours of the land but showed how they come together in our beautiful country and to make people feel hopeful for the future.’

‘I’ve included communities, people, animals and bush medicines spread over different landscapes of red dirt, green grass, bush land and coastal areas to tell the story of the many ways Country can and has healed us throughout our lives and journeys.’

Maggie-Jean has wanted to enter the poster competition for the past few years, but she didn’t feel she could ‘represent the themes well enough’. The 21-year-old entered the competition for the first time this year.

‘This year I felt really strongly about the theme and what it represents for our community.’

When she learned she had won, she couldn’t believe it.

‘To have created an artwork that the National NAIDOC Committee felt was a good representation of the theme means so much to me,’ she said.

As part of the poster competition prize, Maggie-Jean will attend the National NAIDOC Awards ceremony in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) on 3 July.

While she is very excited to have won the poster competition and to be involved in this year’s NAIDOC Week events, Maggie-Jean said she feels ‘extra proud’ to be Indigenous during NAIDOC Week.

‘My cultural heritage is something I’m extremely proud of and to be able to express myself through this medium means a lot to me.’

‘Telling my own stories and the stories of others is something I find deeply valuable because of the impact it can have.’