If you want a glimpse into who Dylan Barnes is, a short stroll across the Wallumattagal campus will reveal their many compelling artworks.

Large earthy banners cascade down the walls of the Arts Precinct, visualising connections between country and academia. Bursts of colour illuminate research banners and Dylan’s mural of warm red hills flow the Dharug Ngurra through the heart of our sport and aquatic centre. Most recently, their unique take on the Progress Pride flag now signifies safety and acceptance from the hearts of the 600-strong MQ Ally Network.

On a rooftop garden of the Arts precinct, metres from their large commissioned work Gaagu-Ma-Rra-Awa-y-Gunha-Niiringal (‘Sharing Tomorrow’), Dylan shares their story, radiating the same warmth, depth and sincerity as can be found in their artworks.

In their own words

I am an Aboriginal artist and proud descendent of the Wiradjuri peoples from the Riley and Ferguson families, based around Dubbo and Darlington Point in central NSW. I also have cultural connections to the Ngardi peoples of the Roper River region of East Arnhem Land up in the Northern Territory, and Darkinjung peoples of the NSW Central Coast.

I am non-binary, and a proud member of Macquarie’s queer community, and I have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Pick a struggle, right?

My mum is Aboriginal, born in Moruya on the NSW south coast and grew up in Western Sydney. And her mum, my grandma, was born in Dubbo and grew up in Lithgow. My parents moved to the NSW Central Coast when my older brother was born. I grew up there and didn’t leave until I moved into college here at Macquarie (shout out to Dunmore Lang College for housing me during my most formative and ‘character building’ years).

I’d been dabbling in art since high school and found people liked what I was creating. It felt great to share parts of my culture within my art and this sparked my pursuit of art as a career around 2018. I have Aunties, Uncles and cousins that are Aboriginal artists, so I’ve learned many things from them too, both culturally and professionally. The banners in the Arts precinct were my first big break.

I started at Macquarie in 2019 through an early entry scholarship, enrolled in Arts and Law, majoring in Indigenous Studies. One semester in, I knew Law wasn’t for me, so I stuck with just Arts and added in a Politics major along with Indigenous Studies. Though I made it to my final year, I realised politics also wasn’t a space I enjoyed, so I decided to continue with just my Indigenous Studies, with a minor in Gender Studies – so, two very employable areas of study.

At the time I was connected with Walanga Muru – the Indigenous Centre here at MQ – and there was a lot of acceptance and representation of queer and Indigenous identities within the academic communities. I found the environment at Macquarie to be very accepting and supportive of my ideas and identity.

In the summer of 2020 I went corporate, that is, I did an internship at a bank, and I hated every minute of it. Around that time, I also received my first commission for the banners in the Arts Precinct. I’d be working nine to five at the bank, coming back to college and staying up until 3am every night working on the piece.

It took 120 hours to complete, but I loved working on it. I felt like I could do anything. I was 19 and I had all the energy in the world, and I hadn’t even started drinking caffeine yet. But at that point I wasn’t yet diagnosed with ADHD. The hyperfocus was real.

It was also spectacular to collaborate with fellow Aboriginal artist Lara Went on the mural at MUSAC for NAIDOC week in 2021, I just loved that experience and her portfolio. That led to me hosting an Aboriginal art and storytelling workshop with Campus Life and a few other art workshops around the uni, which was really special.

After that, I wanted to take a gap year, because I had saved enough to not have to work for a while. That was swiftly replaced with an intensive Diploma in Fashion Technology and Design at TAFE, because it turns out I get bored easily and need to always be doing something. But that also quickly turned back into a gap year, because I didn’t realise the course was not for beginners. So, I took most of 2022 off and chalked it up as an expensive mistake.

At the beginning of 2023, I found myself back at Macquarie to start my Master of Research in Critical Indigenous Studies. I was also doing some casual research assistant work since the scholarship money wasn’t enough to live on. Then in my last year of my masters I got a position as a Research Fellow in the Department of Linguistics in the Aboriginal Children's Hearing Health Program. The role was only two days a week, but along with a full-time masters and a bunch of art stuff on the go, that year was exhausting to say the least.

I enjoyed my job and loved the people I worked with in the Centre of Critical Indigenous Studies, but I had no drive to do my masters. I felt disconnected, even though it was based on my own work as an Indigenous queer artist. I was too close to the subject, and it was too hard to de-centre myself from it. I just couldn’t get through it.

It was also a really difficult period in my life, for reasons too significant to unpack here. I don't regret trying, though. Another expensive, painstaking lesson. But I lived through it. We're here now, we're thriving, and I'm feeling much more stable. More tired, but more stable. My frontal lobe is much more developed now.

My contract at Macquarie concludes soon, so my six-year relationship with the uni may come to an end. I’ve been here so long. I really like this place, and I don’t want to leave (hint hint, hire me). It has been a privilege to share my art and culture with the community, which I hope to continue, and it was a real honour to do the new design for the MQ Ally Network.

What’s next, who knows? Anything could happen. More success, more mistakes – some more expensive than others. I’m just going with the flow and letting my ancestors guide me, whatever or wherever that may be. I don’t really fit into any specific boxes, but I don't really want to fit. I’ll make space for myself either way.

I hope I can remain a ‘Human of Macquarie’ in some capacity. I feel a part of this community, and I am human, contrary to popular belief.

I have some other murals and collaborations in the works; I got a message on Instagram just this morning about doing another commission. I love what I do and what it means to me, my communities, my ancestors, and those who see themselves within my work. That’s why I do it, and that’s what gives me the passion to keep going.