Stranger in Paradise is a work by artist Danie Mellor in the Parliament House Art Collections.

During travels in Germany, Mellor saw First Nations objects from Cape York in museums. This experience inspired his series of decorated German Shepherd ceramic sculptures.¹

In Stranger in Paradise, Mellor glazed the German Shepard with paintings of the Bird of Paradise flower to bring together parallel histories of the colonisation of Australia from First Nations and European perspectives. The dog represents the European otherness, while also referencing the tropical area of north Queensland and the country of his ancestors as a kind of ‘paradise’.

Of the work, Mellor says,

Stranger in Paradise is also a way of describing an experience, an acknowledgement that seemingly unrelated things may give rise to a sense of connection between disparate histories. While the piece invites the view to experience a pleasure in looking, it opens potential pathways of interpreting complex and layered histories.²

Danie Mellor
Danie Mellor was born in Mackay, Queensland in 1971. His mother's people were from the rainforest country around Cairns (Mamu, Ngagen peoples) and his father is American. His multidisciplinary research and practice explore intersections between contemporary and historic culture, and the legacies of cultural memory and knowledge.³ He has a Bachelor of Arts from the Canberra School of Art, ANU (1996), a Master of Arts from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, UK (1996), and a PhD from the ANU School of Art (2002). In 2010 he was appointed to the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts and subsequently served as Chair of Artform until 2015. In 2020 he was appointed to the Board of MCA Australia and the Visual Arts Board of Create NSW.⁴ He exhibits widely, is the recipient of multiple awards and commissions, and his work is represented in multiple national, state and international collections.

References
1. “The Other Side", Museum National, Museums Australia. Issue August 2003, p2.
2. “Acquisition proposal”, Parliament House Art Collections: Collection Management Records.
3. “About: Profile”, Danie Mellor, Accessed August 28, 2025. https://daniemellor.com/profile/
4. Ibid.