Seed Gathering Napangati Women 1996

Makinti Napanangka made this painting of seed gathering women, probably on canvas, with acrylic paint. I can just picture the painting coming into being, shifting, emerging, through trial, error, and intuition. The ochre and yellow are really eye-catching against the black background. I can sympathize with her - what was it like to make this? What was she thinking? That yellow circle, for instance, seems to be a loaded gesture, communicating some feeling, intention, or meaning. She has such a direct response to the material. There’s something very physical about her application of paint. The paint is, relatively speaking, thin, but the gestures have a lot of power. I imagine Napanangka’s painting practice as an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring my own creativity. It's a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.