When Niah paints Gugaa with Ngudjung Yugarang – Stringy Bark with Mother's Heartbeat, she lets the rhythm of the mother’s heartbeat resonate through every line. Mother's Heartbeat is the guiding thread of her work, the first series she explored, and its forms have subtly reappeared in each of her creations ever since.

For Niah, this heartbeat symbolizes the impulse of life, the circulating energy that connects all beings. It echoes the totem of her clan, the stringy-barked eucalyptus, whose fibers seem to dance across the canvas. The dotted lines she traces evoke both a root network and pulmonary alveoli, illustrating interconnections, ramifications, and the vital links between nature, family, and generations. For Niah, painting is a way to materialize this ever-present energy that connects and nourishes all living things.