Cheryl Quejada-Canning

My name is Cheryl Bucaneg Quejada-Canning, I paint under the name Ningjada. A 53-year-old visual artist of Ilocano/ Tagalog ancestry.

I am a Filipino/Australian Sydney based artist who has been living with chronic illness and complications that affects my sensory system. My art enables me to practice self-compassion and better my life. I have been exhibited in both Sydney and Filipino art galleries as well as being published in international books/magazines. I have also conducted art workshops for young people and art students.

A member of NAVA – National Association for the Visual Arts and AAP – Art Association of the Philippines. I have a degree in Business Banking and Finance from the Philippines and currently halfway in through my Diploma in Visual Arts at St. GEORGE College of Fine Art, TAFE NSW.

I write and draw everything that affects me on cardboard, tissue paper, used paper and old magazines. Recycling/Repurposing is a large part of my artistic expression. My art style is figurative abstract art, mainly focusing on my values as Ilokano/Tagalog ancestry, my reaction to lived experience and perception of societal reality. I do all this because I want to trigger a discourse from my audience that an artwork is not just a beautiful thing you put on your wall.