"I feel like there is a giant prawn on my back!"

Colleen Little is a Canadian-born, emerging multimedia artist and arts educator, currently working and residing on Jagera land in Meanjin/Brisbane. She uses her art practice, in conjunction with other activities and treatments, to help keep her mental health at equilibrium. 

Inspired by the ideas of individual perspectives and memory recall, Colleen uses her art process to focus on ordinary everyday beauty, as it appears in her ‘little reality’ series. Using a combination of illustrating from memory, imagination, and reference materials, Colleen creates vibrant one-dimensional drawings and paintings.

Colleen holds both a Bachelor of Studio Arts degree with distinction (2006) and a Bachelor of Arts Education degree (2009). She was named a finalist in the Petite Pieces Art Prize (2022) and Ipswich Art Prize (2023). 

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This digital illustration captures the emotional weight of my first year postpartum. Depicting myself slumped beneath a giant prawn, it symbolises the strange, heavy burden of new motherhood - both physical and mental. The prawn, striking and exaggerated, represents exhaustion, identity shifts, and the surreal nature of early parenthood. By visualising this experience, I hope to give form to feelings that are often hidden, inviting others to reflect on the complexities of maternal transformation.