Bryella Garmanjan Farrell

Bryella was born in 1998 at Darwin, NT. She grew up on Groote Eylandt which is around 630 kilometres east of Darwin off the east coast of Arnhem Land. Bryella has fond childhood memories of camping, being surrounded by the ocean and amazing sea life as well as witnessing the most spectacular sunsets.

Bryella has grown up surrounded by trailblazing artists from the Bulgul artists group, including her mother Stephanie Blitner, Camelia Blitner and Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty. While Camelia and Helen have been instrumental in developing her abstract visual language and providing materials, Bryella explains that it is her mother Stephanie who is the root of her inspiration. Bryella grew up watching and visually learning from her.

Her mother was also the reason she started to paint and can clearly remember the first time she picked up the brush at 10 years of age and painted a picture of Groote Eylandt for her mum. It was in the form of a mermaid and the beginning of an artistic practice that we are excited to see develop.

There is an incredible level of depth and nuance in her work. Dots, varying in size and colour, evoke a beautiful sense of movement and produce a visual rhythm that guides the eye through the artworks. Jewel-like colours of the ocean and rich earth tones from the rocky hills feature in her paintings.

Byrella explains that her art comes from her life experiences such as going hunting, fishing, and swimming. Painting has become a channel for Byrella to connect with place. "When I paint, I feel at peace. It feels as if I could go to the place I'm painting and explore the different colours and textures".

Bryella loves spending quality time with her family and when she's not busy painting, she's spending time with her partner and two sons. Bryella explains that their encouragement and support provides even more inspiration and drive to produce her next work. We look forward to Bryella's strong emerging talent grow and eagerly await her next body of work.

Copyright Kate Owen Gallery, March 2024