Niah Juella Mcleod is an Aboriginal artist of mixed heritage and a descendant of the Monero, Wandandian and Yuin peoples from south-eastern Australia. She is the daughter of Kathrin Sharp, a painter, and Bobby Mcleod, an Aboriginal activist, poet, healer, musician and Yuin elder.

Her work reflects her exploration of identity and the questions she raises about her roots, both Aboriginal and Western. Niah Juella Mcleod reimagines the ancestral traditions of her people and offers a contemporary narrative connected to her Country.

Most of her paintings feature either fine lines or small dots forming a hypnotic pattern, created with the help of a pipette, a brush, or an echidna quill, a small animal typical of Australian fauna.

This is the case here, where the artist explores the symbolic power of the reed. This plant is an integral part of the life of Aboriginal peoples in New South Wales. Found in wetlands and along rivers, reeds are closely connected to the cycles of water and life. The artist delicately depicts its seeds through small dotted leaves that seem to float on the surface. On the left, fine, meticulously drawn lines act like a veil, a memory weaving an ancient link between land, water and transmission.