Reflection · 2026  |  Kalina Davis
Part of Inspired by Her, the annual creative programme of The Orana Every Woman Festival. Curated by Erifili Davis. Exhibited at The Greens, Dubbo — free, for the full seven days of the festival.

Recorded as part of the Inspired by Her exhibition, 2026 Orana Every Woman Festival, Dubbo NSW. Written and read aloud by Kalina Davis — actor, singer-songwriter and writer.

I have a secret. Lean in… closer.

I am a shapeshifter. That sounds crazy right? But it’s true. You see, when I was a child, I learned very quickly that the world held many dangers, and a lot of the time it can come from people you trust. And somehow the one with the smallest hands are to blame, the guilt and the shame and the pain…. It’s for those little hands to carry. I also learned that the world wanted something different from me. I was too loud, too wild, too stubborn, too emotional, too much…. Yet somehow never enough. I learned from an early age the world wanted something mouldable, something controllable, something compliant.

In those moments I could feel it, the jelly like substance replacing skin and bone, and my brain like play doh. All I had to be, was anything they wanted me to be. To feel valuable, to survive.

In time, shapeshifting came as easily as breathing. With new people came new reflections, my body twisting, contorting, shaping, style changing, personality replacing with something … new. Only thing that remained the same was a smile. The problem is, shapeshifters give off a certain scent, like a rabbit to a fox, a mouse to a cat, a pig to a hunting dog. Prey and predator. My life became new faces, and bargaining handmade silhouettes used like transactions. And somehow the one with the smallest hands are to blame, the guilt and the shame and the pain…. I was surviving… but never feeling alive.

You may wonder why I put myself through this pain, why I flay myself day after day.

Why I shift through discarded skin, trying to see what fits like a puzzle, why I unthread myself just to rethread with my hands holding the needle.

Because every day… I look at my daughter.

She’s so loud, so wild, so stubborn, so emotional, and so much more. And I love every piece that makes her who she is. No one could convince me she isn’t exactly who she needs to be and will make one of the most amazing women I will meet in my lifetime. So maybe… just maybe… if I pull each layer to my core, even if I need to hit bone and reshape like building blocks, pulling thread like broken chains… and find a way to build something… new. Maybe I can permanently shapeshift… into a woman for her to look up to.

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Kalina Davis is an actor, singer, songwriter and writer who particularly enjoys short form works. In 2023 she wrote, directed and produced her first short film, Hidden Prey. A number of Kalina’s works have been produced by Voices of Women, and she has performed with the group at Sydney’s KXT on Broadway. Something New is both written and read by Kalina — a reflection on survival, shapeshifting, and becoming the woman her daughter can look up to. Personal, unflinching, and ultimately full of love.

Listen

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Eight women. Eight responses to the same brief.

Inspired by Her invites women artists and writers to make new work inspired by the lives, voices and stories of women from our region’s past. The 2026 exhibition opened on Monday 2 March at the Macquarie Conservatorium, with a Wiradjuri Welcome to Country by Aunty Diane McNaboe, alongside novelist Eleanor Limprecht and performer Rachael Beck.

• Tin Town Tess — Erifili Davis
• COVID Lockdown — Nisaba Merrieweather
• Homecoming — Nisaba Merrieweather
• Icon — Jude Morrell
• Wambuul: Echoes of the Turning Tide — Sophia Johnson
• A Bouquet of Flowers — Phoebe Maroulis
• Nonna. Mother. Daughter. — Milena Sallustio

See the full Inspired by Her 2026 programme →  |  The brief is open again for 2027 →