Two Women: Fire 2005

Curator: Straight away I think... earth and clay. The rhythmic lines have a pulse, like breath. It makes me feel calm, somehow. Editor: You’re picking up on the raw materials, quite perceptive. This piece, "Two Women: Fire" by Makinti Napanangka, completed in 2005, is executed in acrylic paint and presents a fascinating example of contemporary Indigenous Australian art. Curator: Two Women: Fire, interesting choice of words, because if you look closely it reminds me of some sort of flame like from a far angle or distance and those hues of ochre create so much of a primitive atmosphere. Editor: Indeed, Napanangka employs these earthy tones to construct what some might see as an abstract landscape, built of geometric forms that invite a semiotic reading—stripes which perhaps resemble geographical lines, layered as on a map. But don't let fool your mind, what do you make of that tension between organic subject and highly stylised mark-making? Curator: Well, you know I see that play with form and color as essential, but I also sense something more, the presence of storytelling and an emotional presence too— it's evocative. There's joy here, it makes you travel to another planet. I reckon the canvas is an interface with memories. Editor: It's precisely that interplay which fascinates, I think. Napanangka is challenging notions of the abstract form but connecting to something deep in her cultural landscape. If only paint could talk, wouldn’t it? What’s left, then, is the interpretation, an intersubjective experience of forms, that we as beholders need to translate. Curator: Translation it is! Perhaps "Two Women: Fire" is precisely a reminder of how the most stripped down aesthetic is never truly divorced from human touch, even ancestral, to say the least. And the beauty of abstraction lies maybe in that. Editor: Nicely summarized. Perhaps we might simply note that beyond its aesthetic appeal, Napanangka’s creation offers a glimpse into the rich, complex world of Indigenous expression and cultural memory.