Hairstring 2010

Makinti Napanangka painted Hairstring with what looks like orange ochre on a dark ground. I'm imagining how the artist loaded the brush with paint and dragged it across the surface, feeling the give and take of the bristles. The ground peeks through in places, as if she was building up the layers, one after another. It’s interesting to consider the physicality of the medium itself. How the paint sits on the surface, thick in some spots, thin in others. Those repeated gestures, they're not just marks, they're a way of feeling and thinking. I can almost sense the rhythm of her breath as she worked, each stroke a meditation on the relationship between color, texture, and form. Looking at this, I am reminded of Agnes Martin’s repetitive mark making, and also of other Aboriginal artists. In the end, it shows how artists are always in dialogue with each other, across time and space, each one inspiring the next, keeping the conversation going.