Niah Juella McLeod is an Aboriginal artist of mixed heritage, descended from the Monero, Wandandian, and Yuin peoples of south-eastern Australia. She is the daughter of painter Kathrin Sharp and Bobby McLeod, an Aboriginal activist, poet, healer, musician, and elder of the Yuin people. Her work reflects her exploration of identity and her questions about her roots, both Aboriginal and Western. Niah Juella McLeod reimagines her people’s ancestral traditions, offering a contemporary narrative tied to her Country.

The stringy bark eucalyptus is Niah Juella McLeod’s clan totem. Aboriginal clan totems are spiritual and cultural symbols that connect each clan to an animal, plant, or natural phenomenon, representing ancestors or guardians. These totems define group identity, influence rituals, social rules, and taboos, and guide individuals’ relationships with the natural world.

The stringy bark eucalyptus is native to Australia, particularly along the coasts of New South Wales and Queensland. Its name refers to the long, fibrous strands of its bark. In Aboriginal communities, the bark holds deep cultural and spiritual significance.

In the Aboriginal language, ‘Bana’ means “rain,” ‘Gugaa’ translates as “stringy bark,” and ‘Waraawara’ as “fishing line.” In this work, McLeod evokes a fishing session in the rain, sheltered under the eucalyptus trees. Here, painting becomes an act of faith, allowing the objects, sites, and beings represented to exist and testify to the eternal present of this creative movement known as the Dreamtime, or the Time of the Dream.