Niah Juella McLeod unfolds a symbolic visual language, both codified and vibrant, which forms the foundation of her stylistic approach. This unique vocabulary allows her to convey stories blending personal and collective memory, resonating in each artwork with the imprint of the land, spiritual heritage, and lived experience.

Bana Gugaa Waraawara (rain on bark with fishing line) evokes a fishing scene in the rain, sheltered beneath the branches of the trees.

In this work, Niah shares precious memories connected to her non-Aboriginal grandfather, who ran a fly fishing school in Jindabyne, on Monaro country: “It is thanks to him that I hold so many memories of this region. The stringy bark is our emblematic tree, deeply rooted in the Yuin community.”

She continues: “It is a variety of eucalyptus. It’s a bit like fishing in the heart of eucalyptus forests, where my grandfather ran his fly fishing school. Every spring, we would go there to learn or simply try.” Unbeknownst to her, her maternal grandfather had settled precisely on the Aboriginal lands from which Niah’s father came.

Thus, Bana Gugaa Waraawara goes beyond merely recalling a lived moment. The artwork becomes a space of resonance between family history, artistic gesture, and Aboriginal cosmology. Through this series, Niah Juella McLeod invites us to slow down, to feel, and to relearn how to see the world with a deep sensitivity inherited from the land.