Desert Lifecycle 1995

This is Emily Kame Kngwarreye, and this painting, Desert Lifecycle, feels like it was built up slowly, with a brush loaded with colour, dot after dot. I feel like I can see Emily, patient but passionate, building up these strokes. She’s repeating and layering, and I can imagine her going back and forth across the canvas, adding and adjusting. Look at the range of colours; yellows and reds, with licks of blue, and how they interact with one another. It reminds me a bit of Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler, where colour feels like emotion. The painting is not about a specific thing, but about a way of seeing the world, the feeling of the desert and its constant state of flux and flow. It's a vibe; a translation of what it means to be alive.