Davida Allen
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Davida Allen (born in Charleville, Queensland in 1951), is an Australian artist, film maker and writer. She won the prestigious Archibald Prize for portraiture in 1986.
Allen studied under Betty Churcher at Stuartholme Convent, Brisbane (1965-69) and later under Ray Churcher at Brisbane Central Technical College. She won the Archibald Prize in 1986 for her portrait of her father-in-law Dr John Shera, has written and illustrated two books ('What Is a Portrait - Images of Vicki Myers' and 'The Autobiography of Vicki Myers - Close to the Bone'), and has created a 50 minute film, 'Feeling Sexy,' on the struggles of an artist attempting to reconcile the conflicting demands of bohemia and suburbia. She frequently confronts the themes of family and sexuality - regarding the latter she has said: "[I]f we are truly feminist in the fullest sense of the word, we shouldn’t have felt we had to lock it away or be really careful about it. We should be chauvinist in our womanhood." [1]. Allen is represented in most major public collections in Australia.
