Women's Body Paint Design 2010

Abie Loy Kemarre painted this 'Women's Body Paint Design' with earth pigments on canvas to depict the patterns applied in Aboriginal ceremonies. It feels good looking at this piece. I feel the process of making it. I can imagine the artist carefully considering the relationship between the light lines and dark ground. Each stroke is not rigidly uniform, but has its own character, a little wobble. They are all in conversation with each other. I bet painting this was a kind of meditation, the repetition of lines a way to connect with history and culture. Maybe the artist had a particular ceremony in mind as she worked? This piece reminds me that painting is so much more than just putting color on a surface; it’s a way of thinking, feeling, and living. I see her work as part of a continuum with other painters, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. She embodies ambiguity and invites multiple readings.