Juanita McLauchlan is hard at work on a seven-metre-long blanket for her exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery. Photo: Chris Roe.
2024 has been a huge year for Wagga artist Juanita McLauchlan and 2025 is shaping up to be even bigger.
Fresh from having her work included as a finalist in the prestigious Wynne Landscape Prize, the Gamilaaray artist is preparing a new body of work for her first state art museum exhibition at Art Gallery NSW in June.
“Just the idea of all this happening is quite humbling,” she said.
“The trust they’ve given me to produce work is nerve-wracking, it’s stressful and at the same time, that fires me up a little bit!”
The exhibition, Yilaa Minyaminyabal Maaru-ma-lda-y (Soon Everything Will Be Healing) is about family and will comprise a seven-metre-long work stitched together from vintage blankets, possum pelts and fabric featuring embroidery, eco-dye and imprints from local plants.
“If someone’s in need, you give them a hug or you give them a blanket and you keep them warm and nurture them,” Juanita said explaining the thinking behind the enormous work.
“Some families are a bit rough, a bit tattered and they need mending and stitching together and the idea of mending and healing is exactly the same.
“This is about healing families, healing stories, healing history and it’s not just your blood family. It’s the family in the community. It’s the family who will support you when you don’t tell anyone you need to help and just this quiet stitching together of people.”
Artist Juanita (right) with curator Julie Ewington at the opening of her first major solo exhibition at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery in 2023. Photo: Supplied.
The experienced printmaker and mother of five is quick to acknowledge the people who have propelled her on her journey to Australia’s biggest art stage and the support she has had from her adopted hometown on Wiradjuri Country.
“Being able to do my Cultural Arts Certificate III, then the diploma, and then the advanced diploma through TAFE gave me the space and allowed me to bounce off other students, other teachers, and just opens your eyes and builds your confidence to put your work out there,” she said.
Juanita’s first major solo exhibition at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery in 2023 followed a Windmill Trust Scholarship and featured her signature large-scale sculptural necklaces and handsewn blankets.
“I had the amazing opportunity at Wagga Gallery to have my exhibition – Giimara-Bulla – and that was led by Dr Leanne Hall and I was mentored by Julie Ewington and also Dr Julie Montgarrett – I have a collection of Julies,” she said with a laugh.
“They said, ‘Oh, Juanita, just be prepared because things will happen’ – and I thought, we have five kids at home and things don’t normally happen that quickly, but it really has happened all at once.”
Wagga poet David Gilby, artist Juanita McLauchlan and MP Dr Joe McGirr. Photo: Supplied.
Juanita’s unique style and focus on family and culture soon caught the eye of art prize judges and curators and in April, a collection of her work featured in an exhibition at NSW Parliament House with the backing of Wagga’s local MP.
“Dr Joe McGirr was a great supporter and suggested I should apply for the Parliament House exhibition and I pulled work together for that and while I was there (curators) Cara Pinchback and Liam Keenan came over from the NSW Gallery and had a look at my work and said they’d like to keep in contact with me,” Juanita explained.
“And then my work got selected for the Wynne Prize, which was mind-blowing because I do blankets and soft sculptures and I’d never really seen my work as landscape.
“But getting into that has just expanded my footprint on the art world.”
The First Nations curators from Art Gallery NSW soon followed up with Juanita and the exhibition is locked in to open in July next year.
“I had no idea that this would all lead me to the NSW Art Gallery,” Juanita said.
“I’ve been given this amazing opportunity through people who have been my champions and supported me and encouraged and I feel that it’s bigger than just me and my work because it’s an acknowledgement of the work of people in rural areas.”
Juanita McLauchlan’s exhibition Yilaa Minyaminyabal Maaru-ma-lda-y (Soon Everything Will Be Healing) runs from 5 July – 19 October 2025 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in the new Naala Badu building.
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