Sinead Davies The charity worker

Tanya Lee OAM is the founder of the CorriLee Foundation, which stages charitable fundraisers and brings together existing charities that share a commitment to kindness and compassion. The foundation owes its name to Lee’s grandmother, Corrie Lee, who raised a family while her husband was away fighting during World War II, ran her own business when this was unusual for women, and lost a limb without losing her zest for life or generosity.

Sinead Davies has known her subject intermittently for many years, and says she is ‘in awe of Tanya’s consistent drive to improve the lives of others’.

Davies presents Lee holding a peony. A single petal has dropped, indicating the passing of time. ‘Historically this flower existed solely for the pleasure of Chinese emperors. Here the preferred symbolic meaning is that of “compassion”,’ says Davies.

Born in Ireland, Davies moved to Australia in 1983. She studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art, London, and has a Master of Arts from the University of New South Wales. Influenced by Japanese painting and her undergraduate study in life painting, she prioritises the abstract complexity of colour, line, shape and form.