Queensland artist Davida Allen's raw, expressive paintings offer audiences a direct and cathartic view into her world. As she has explained, "I've constantly been painting pictures about the emotions that go through me. That's the way I've resolved my problems in life". As a young woman determined to make art despite the pressures of marriage and motherhood, Allen looked to her own experiences for subject matter – and has continued to share the events of her life through her art. Mother swinging her baby is a lyrical contemporary take on the timeless theme of mother and child, in which the artist and her infant daughter reach towards each other in a favourite game. The flowers that decorate Allen's dress add to the celebratory and gently comical tone of the painting.