Grandmother's Country 1995

Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi made this painting, Grandmother’s Country, with dots and dashes of acrylic paint, building up the surface into a shimmering field. I imagine her, patiently dabbing the canvas, each dot a deliberate mark, a tiny act of devotion. The colors – ochre, cream, and charcoal – feel earthy and alive, like the landscape itself breathing beneath my feet. I’m thinking about her grandmother, and what that country must have meant to her and to Gabriella. It is a place of memory and belonging. The patterns vibrate with energy, like heat rising off the desert floor. I see echoes of other dot painters, Emily Kngwarreye perhaps, but Gabriella’s voice is all her own. She’s not just depicting a place; she’s embodying it. She’s inviting us to slow down, to feel the pulse of the land, to connect with something ancient and enduring. It makes me want to pick up a brush and join the conversation, to add my own voice to the chorus of painters who came before.