Dibirdibi Country 2012

Sally Gabori made this painting, Dibirdibi Country, with what looks like acrylic paint and a lot of feeling. I can imagine Sally standing in front of the canvas, working fast, building up this landscape with strokes of orange, white, and magenta. See how the brushstrokes are laid down with a kind of urgency, almost like she’s trying to capture a memory before it fades? The paint is applied pretty thickly in some areas, giving the surface a texture that almost feels like the earth itself. I wonder if Sally felt the same connection to her land as I do when I’m lost in a painting. It’s like the painting becomes a way of thinking, a place where you can work through ideas and emotions without having to put them into words. I see echoes of other painters here, too—maybe Joan Mitchell in the boldness of the colors, or even Emily Kngwarreye in the way the landscape becomes almost abstract. Painting is a conversation, after all, and artists keep talking to each other across time.