Walu Ku Langu (Fire) Dreaming 1995

Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi made "Walu Ku Langu (Fire) Dreaming," with paint, and somehow it feels like she created an entire universe. I’m really drawn to the way Nungurrayi builds up this surface. It's so textural, so alive. There’s this beautiful tension between control and chaos, a kind of push and pull that I recognize in my own work. Look at the concentric circles, these radiant bursts. They are almost pulsating, like tiny suns or stars. I love how they disrupt the overall pattern, creating these focal points that draw you in and then let your eye wander again. The color palette is so interesting too. It’s like a dreamscape of oranges, pinks, blues and browns. This reminds me a bit of Hilma af Klint, someone else who was making abstract paintings with a spiritual dimension. Ultimately, art is a conversation and Nungurrayi’s painting invites us to participate in it. It’s a reminder that ambiguity can be a powerful thing, that there's always more than one way to see the world.