Artist Profile: Bianca McNeair
By the Bay Exhibition, Rose de Freycinet Gallery, 2026
Bianca McNeair’s installation draws on her Malgana heritage, particularly the matriarchal legacy within which she was raised and which she is now continuing as a mother and grandmother. With this comes a deep responsibility to Country and the creatures that inhabit it.
Although based in Geraldton, McNeair regularly returns to the Bay for both professional and cultural reasons, including through her work in sea conservation, which has seen her present on Malgana traditional knowledge across Australia and internationally.
Her installation comprises a life-sized sculpted Loggerhead Turtle and a recording in her own voice relating the story of a turtle monitoring trip to Wirruwana/Dirk Hartog Island she organised for herself, her daughter and a number of other Malgana women. This was a deeply profound experience in which the group strongly felt the presence of their matriarchal ancestors watching over them from the night sky as they undertook this important cultural work, and it has powerfully moving resonance in the exhibition space, delivered in McNeair’s soothingly measured voice.
The turtle is embellished in tribute to her maternal Elders’ love of ‘bling’, with pearlescent beads, the large pink scallop shells that Malgana people are permitted to gather for cultural purposes, and glimmering fairy lights referencing the star constellations from her story.
Curated by Andrew Nicholls
Conceived by the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery & Visitor Centre,
Installed by Andrew Nicholls and Aiyana Wright
Project Managed by Julia Fenny
This project is delivered by the Shire of Shark Bay, and made possible through the Regional Arts Venue Support program managed by Western Australian State Government.
