Black-and-white profile portrait of a woman with a shaved head, wearing a black beanie and an off-the-shoulder black top with a raw, fringed hem. She looks downward in three-quarter profile against a plain white background, in dramatic, high contrast lighting.

Image description:

Black-and-white profile portrait of a woman with a shaved head, wearing a black beanie and an off-the-shoulder black top with a raw, fringed hem. She looks downward in three-quarter profile against a plain white background, in dramatic, high contrast lighting.

Megan Davies

2026

Recipient

Megan is a Queensland-based artist and writer working across drawing, painting, photography and prose. Megan received a 2026 SAFE Grant from Access Arts in support of “After the Labelling / Before the Naming”, a two-sided flip book bringing together twenty-seven years of new and archival work.

The grant supported production of the book — a limited A5 softcover print run, ISBN registration, and postage to reach readers directly.

“The work that I have created, specifically for the SAFE grant, is a hybrid text that brings together new and old pieces, spanning twenty-seven years, across drawing, painting, photography, and writing. It is structured as a two-sided flip book with two separate titles; After the Labelling and Before the Naming, marking the before and after of a bipolar affective disorder diagnosis. After the Labelling addresses mental illness and stigma directly through new works; Before the Naming are the older works that express stillness, beauty, and emotional intensity through prose and poetic gestures,” Megan shared.