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Unt i t led, acry l ic on l inen, 60 x 60cm Winpa, acry l ic on l inen, 60 x 60cm

Unt i t led, acry l ic on l inen, 90 x 90cm Kayu Kayu, acry l ic on l inen, 91 x 91cm

Outstat ion - art f rom art centres and Short St Gallery are proud to present

Piti - an exhibit ion by Lydia Balbal

To understand Balbal’s painting, it is important to know that she is a bush woman born and bred. She is sti l l a prolif ic hunter who can catch, skin, cook and eat a king brown snake with her bare hands. She l ived in her Mangala king brown country unti l 1974 when her family came into the coastal community of Bidyadanga, then LaGrange Mission, when Balbal was about 18 years old. They were some of the last of their people to walk in. The first t ime Balbal painted Pikarong, her birthplace, a king brown snake appeared at the Bungalow (the painting studio in Broome where the Yulpari ja Artists work).

Pit i is the Mangala word for the underground creeks that traverse the Great Sandy Desert. These creeks and rivers feed the water holes that sustained Balbal’s people for tens of thousands of years. The l inear under painting woven across these paintings are the pit i as well as the walking and hunting tracks. These work l ike emotional veins, which underpin the complex, dotted surface she overlays in her signature f l ickering dot style. The dots merge in sections creating a complex spatial vortex, swirl ing veils that hover and shift over the subterranean architecture of the work. To a western eye her works appear as fantastic abstract paintings laden with unexpected renderings of intricate paint. She combines a surprising palette and complex structure in her renderings of country. The contrasts in her work are emotive, and confronting, a journey through a landscape of the soul as much as a charting of her Great Sandy Desert home. Balbal is her country, when she paints this landscape she gives it a l i fe that transcends western notions of reality. The work in this exhibit ion reveals a fundamental dichotomy. The viewer oscil lates between the emotional complexit ies created by the spatial interplay, and a strangely reassuring intimacy, which reflects her deep knowledge of country. The work has an emotional honesty and integrity, which gives one a sense of famil iarity. This is further emphasized by the confidence of her brushwork. Balbal takes us into the interior of this continent, a harsh and feared landscape and reveals its bounty and beauty, with such graciousness and generosity, one cannot help but be transcended to a place beyond our comfort zone and herein l ies her greatness as a painter.

Emily Rohr, Short St Gallery Director. July 2010

Unt i t led, acry l ic on canvas, 122 x 122cm Unt i t led, acry l ic on l inen, 106 x 106cm Unt i t led, acry l ic on canvas, 122 x 122cm