As part of our celebration of Reconciliation Week, we welcomed Njarala Paton (Gunai, Monero Ngarigo, Gunditjmara) to the studio for morning tea and a conversation about her work.

Currently completing Year 12, Njarala has already established herself as an emerging artist through a series of significant commissions. Her painting, Ngetal Narmung – Ngetal Wurruk (My Veins – My Country), was developed for the Statewide Treaty following her selection to represent the South East region of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria through an Expression of Interest process. Her work was included as part of the landmark Statewide Treaty.

Most recently, Njarala spent her school holidays creating a mural at Oxygen Youth Space in Merri-bek.

It was a privilege to hear Njarala share insights into her creative practice, inspirations, and growing contribution to the arts.

“My artwork reflects how I see, experience and connect to my Country as a young person. It comes through the little things: the details of Country in the leaves, the movement of the river, the patterns in the tree bark, and then the way water moves slowly over rocks in a stream. I think about the sound of rain– how it sounds and how I feel it from the soft touch of mist to large heavy drops on the roof. The feathers, tiny animal tracks in the bush, their patterns through the sand and the way wind moves through the trees.

I’m drawn to the colours of Country – the early morning light over the hills, the colours hiding in the shadows of plants, and how colours change as the sun moves across the sky, changing into deep reds, pinks and oranges at the end of the day. My own sketches are in there too – things you might not see, but I do.”

Njarala is the daughter of JCB team member Anne-Marie Pisani. For morning tea, Njarala and Anne-Marie baked lemon myrtle cheesecake with macadamia nuts and coconut and wattle seed damper with golden syrup butter.