'Tala' is a Sanskrit word which means ‘to tap one’s hand on one’s arm’. In Indian classical music, it refers to the device of a recurring time-measure or metre, which, at a metaphorical level, is said to recapitulate the rhythm of creation. Reading Savanhdary Vongpoothorn’s painting from left to right, there are three repetitions of five distinct vertical sections, the widths of each gradually increasing, like the swell of an increasingly louder or longer beat. The artist adds:

My work has always had Lao cultural references interwoven with Australian and other cultural influences. Besides using motifs and symbols from Lao textiles, for example, I have applied a technique of perforation to some works as a direct reference to the act of weaving. Spiritual references have also been important, especially the use of Lao words, texts, and concepts from Theravada Buddhism, including khaathaa (Lao-Pali) and paritta (Pali) protective incantations or spells. For me, such cultural references do not constitute a fixed tradition or an objectified sense of ‘culture’. Rather, they stem from my experience of growing up, living, and breathing in Lao cultural, familial, and religious worlds, both in Laos and Australia . . .

I am not saying anything new, yet, through painting, I say it in a new way.

— Savanhdary Vongpoothorn, 2013