Barbara Quayle

Barbara is a Barkindji artist living in Menindee. She was a student of Broken Hill artist, Geoff Demain, who taught a Broken Hill TAFE Outreach Course in Menindee in the early 2000s in ceramics. In 1988 she attended a jewellery making workshop in Menindee which developed Barbara’s interest in making jewellery from local materials such as gum-nuts, echidna quills and quandong seeds. Barbara attended a weaving workshop in Menindee in 2019, facilitated by Wentworth based, Maliangappa/Paakantji artist Clair Bates and supported by West Darling Arts. She has started to weave items like earrings from natural materials. Barbara is also a photographer and has been documenting the Baaka River. With Cindi Bates and Cheryl Blore, Barbara has been painting protest signs about the river in Menindee. Originally painted for the River Rally on the 3rd March 2019, the signs operate as art activism in action, creating visibility for both the community and the environment.

Barbara: ‘There is a feeling of disconnection from the environment; the grandfather trees are dying. What gives me hope is the strength and the fight of our people’.

Barbara exhibited in Baaka Stories, held at West Darling Arts in 2019 in Broken Hill. Barbara will be exhibiting at Artstate Wagga, along with Cindy Bates and Cheryle Blore in November 2020.