Lezah Gant-Gildea (also known as Lezah Gildea-Marega) has been drawing and making art for as long as she can remember. It was 2007 when she enrolled in the Degree of Fine Arts at Griffith University, completing her major in oil painting by 2009 before she felt it  necessary to turn her mind to commercial pursuits, supporting her darling children through their education.

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By that time, Lezah had been accepted as a finalist in what was then known as the Churchie National Emerging Art prize (now known as “the Churchie emerging art prize”) with her entry, an acrylic painting, entitled “Endangered Beauty I”, focussing on the threat to the Great Barrier Reef arising from climate change and pollution.  This has been a concern to which Lezah has returned in her work over the years.

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Lezah’s painting, featuring Brisbane floodwaters and mud banks, was also accepted for the curatorial selection shown in the Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize exhibition in what was one of only two years, as far as Lezah is aware, when the Prize was open to entries, other than by invitation.  

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Lezah has recently returned to Griffith University on a part time basis with the aim of completing the Degree of Fine Arts and hoping to then undertake honours in painting. As well as painting, Lezah has a love of drawing, particularly in charcoal and ink.

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Lezah is continuing through her current work to explore man's relationship with the environment and our collective responsibility for its  care, with a focus on the Great Barrier Reef. 

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