Denise Buchanan
Barlawi   2023
acrylic on canvas
Yarrila Arts and Museum Collection

Denise Buchanan is a Gumbaynggirr artist. Her painting Barlawi, which is the Gumbaynggirr word for brolga, depicts the brolga’s journey on the coast, dancing across sacred land representing a time untouched by urbanisation, where life flourished. Barlawi was once a common sight across country, her story is connected to seasons, dance, and ceremony, sharing birthing and ceremonial sites with Gumbaynggirr people.

Here, the artist paints Barlawi at a waterhole in a place called Magay Miirlarl, at Valla Deep Creek, where red ochre was formed through a transformation in the landscape. This place is connected to ancestral stories of Birrugan, a powerful Gumbaynggirr warrior, and his mother Gawnggan, the first mother to exist who divided the seas, rivers, lakes and creeks. This sacred place and Barlawi are interconnected, holding truth in Gumbaynggirr people’s connection to country and animals.

Painting depicting a brolga at a watering hole, acrylic on canvas.