Juan Davila is a painter who passionately believes in using art to facilitate social change. Davila was born in Santiago, Chile, and moved to Australia in the 1970s to escape the violent totalitarian regime of Pinochet. His work had an immediate impact on the Australian art scene and he has since become one of Australia's most respected and creative artists and is represented in all State and National art museums.
His work addresses international issues, especially with reference to Latin American and Australian themes, and he draws on his own experiences of repression and loss suffered during Chile's dark history.
Davila's art – beautiful, complex, confronting and provocative – sets to counter indifference in the community and spark intellectual discourse on many issues in the international political landscape – terrorism, refugees, political and social rights and undemocratic governments.
