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Artist Olana Janfa’s works bring bold colour, energy and storytelling into the Hospital environment. Olana describes the ideas behind the pieces he created for Footscray, shaped by themes of community, care and cultural expression.
Olana is a local artist engaged via Plenary Health Consortium and its Footscray Hospital Arts Partner, Footscray Community Arts.
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About the Heal and Thrive Opportunity
Hospital patient lounges and waiting areas are places where people often experience long periods of stress, uncertainty and emotional fatigue. In response, this commission (supported by Footscray Community Arts) supports the scientifically proven approach of art as a form of positive distraction, fostering wellbeing through connection, comfort and reflection.
The artworks are designed to soften clinical environments and create spaces that feel welcoming, human and uplifting. Through colour, form and storytelling, they draw on familiar elements associated with home, offering moments of calm for patients, staff and visitors. Central to the commission is a commitment to cultural safety, with works reflecting the identities, histories and lived experiences of communities from Melbourne’s Western Suburbs.
This opportunity sits within Of Place, a broader curatorial framework developed by Footscray Community Arts which centres local stories, community voices and connections to place. By embedding these narratives into the hospital environment, the artworks support healing beyond clinical care, encouraging people to not only recover, but to heal and thrive.
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About the Artist
Olana Janfa is an Ethiopian-Norwegian artist based in Melbourne whose practice is shaped by lived experience across cultures and places. Born in Addis Ababa, he emigrated to Norway as a teenager before later making Melbourne his home, with Footscray as his first place of arrival in Australia. This deep connection to place, migration and belonging made Olana a natural choice as lead artist for the Heal and Thrive commission.
A self-taught artist, Olana began painting in 2018 as a way to reconnect with his heritage and share stories through colour, texture and form. His bright, expressive works reflect identity, resilience and community, qualities that strongly resonate with Footscray’s diverse population. Central to his practice is a genuine commitment to collaboration and community engagement, ensuring his artworks are shaped by the voices of those who will experience them. Through this approach, Olana’s work brings warmth, cultural recognition and humanity into his work.
Find out moreAbout the Process
Working in partnership with Footscray Community Arts, Olana led a series of creative workshops with patients, staff and visitors at the existing hospital site, as well as children from local primary and secondary schools and members of the wider community. These sessions invited participants to share ideas, drawings and reflections on what healing, strength and belonging mean to them.
The insights gathered through these workshops directly informed the themes, colours and narratives within Olana’s artworks, ensuring the final works genuinely reflect the people and place they serve. This inclusive process helped create art that feels personal, welcoming and rooted in community experience.
This video by Sarah Pannell beautifully captures this process, offering an intimate look at Olana’s collaborative approach and the way community voices were translated into artworks for the hospital environment.
