Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan

KTAFA × SANE Australia

Kelly Taylor was commissioned by SANE Australia to create Heal the People — an original artwork displayed in SANE's offices and published on the cover of their Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan. The painting carries the stories of Country, family and the journey of healing.

All collaborations Meet Kelly Taylor →

2020

Artwork commissioned

Artist — Kelly Taylor

2024

Innovate RAP endorsed

Born in Port Augusta, SA

The commission

Healing through story, painted on Country

The SANE Australia commission began as a Reconciliation Action Plan artwork and became a lasting visual centrepiece for the organisation's commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing. Each chapter of the collaboration reflects the deep connection between culture, Country and the journey of healing.

2020

Heal the People — A Commission for SANE

Kelly Taylor was commissioned by SANE Australia to create an original artwork for their Reconciliation Action Plan. The piece, titled Heal the People, was painted by Kelly Marie Taylor, a Yankunytjatjara/Kokatha artist, and is displayed in SANE's offices and published on the front cover of their Innovate RAP.

The artwork incorporates traditional symbols to express Kelly's journey — the red sand hills of Ernabella, Fregon, Uluru, Indulkana, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy and Port Augusta, the waterholes, the campfires, and the stories passed down from her grandmother Millie Taylor (nee Lennon).

The commission supports SANE's mission to champion the voices of people affected by complex mental health issues, carrying cultural storytelling into the heart of an organisation dedicated to ending mental health inequity.

My paintings are about my childhood days hunting and gathering traditional foods, playing and rolling down beautiful red sand hills of Ernabella, Fregon, Uluru, Indulkana, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy and Port Augusta. Where we would camp surrounded by trees, sand hills and plenty of water holes to swim in and sitting by the campfire or campsite on country, enjoying the fresh air.
Kelly Marie Taylor, Yankunytjatjara/Kokatha artist

2020

From Grandmother to Granddaughter

Kelly Marie Taylor was born in 1978 in Port Augusta, South Australia, and belongs to the Yankunytjatjara/Kokatha peoples. She is custodian to her grandmother's stories as well as her own.

Her painting journey started when she was just eleven years old, living in Alice Springs with her grandmother Millie Taylor (nee Lennon). Every day after school she would watch her grandmother paint for hours, until one day her grandmother put out a piece of canvas with a lightning dreaming design she had prepared for her — and Kelly has been painting ever since.

This commission reflects the deep family lineage that underpins every KTAFA artwork — the knowledge, stories and cultural responsibility passed from grandmother to granddaughter, and now to Kelly's own daughters.

Ongoing

SANE's Journey to Reconciliation

SANE is focused on ending mental health inequity through systematic change, eliminating stigma, discrimination and social exclusion. The organisation acknowledges the significant intergenerational impact colonisation has had, and continues to have, on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's mental health and wellbeing.

SANE's Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan was endorsed in October 2024, with Heal the People featured on its cover. The organisation actively works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities and partners to implement cultural governance and social and emotional wellbeing practice within their model of care.

This collaboration reflects KTAFA's commitment to creating authentic Aboriginal artwork that carries cultural storytelling into organisations working for meaningful change — with reconciliation and healing at the heart of every brief.

Read the full family story →

The journey