Barra, installation view, Wangaratta Art Gallery, 2025

Barra, meaning thread in the Gamilaraay language of Juanita McLauchlan’s grandmother’s country in northern New South Wales, connects two distinct, yet interrelated areas of the artist’s practice – textiles and printmaking. As a thread stitches, uniting and securing elements together, McLauchlan’s work speaks to her sense of continuity with family, Country and culture, through generations past, present and future.

Working with recycled woollen blankets, brushtail possum fur, wool and cotton thread, linen and gold leaf, McLauchlan’s textiles are eco-printed with branches, bark and leaves from the trees and shrubs found on Wiradjuri Country / Wagga Wagga, NSW where she has lived for more than 20 years.