Katrina O’Brien’s, No Force Could Hold Back the River that Flowed from the Sky , is part of her solo exhibition, Dream Letter. 

Katrina says of this work: “No Force Could Hold Back the River that Flowed from the Sky and The River that Never Runs Dry, were made together. They are a mini-series within a series subtitled The Emergence. I made these just after Sydney Contemporary 2022. They relate to the narrative contained within the large canvas paintings, Of What, does a Stone Sing? And, Of What, does a Stone Dream?

For me, these two works unleash a palpable freedom; a gushing river, a touch of the cosmic and unexplored possibilities and worlds.”

Katrina says of the series: “The title, Dream Letter, was inspired by the album and song by Tim Buckley with the same name. The song itself is not the inspiration, but the notion of writing a song, a painting or a letter to someone who may never receive it was the fixation of these works. For Tim, it was writing to his son Jeff Buckley, who he tragically never really made an effort to be a father to. Both their lives have always fascinated me – Tim, a bad father with an amazing vocal range, Jeff his son with equally amazing vocal skills – both not wanting anything to do with the other and yet their lives mirrored each other’s in a deeply compelling way. Both had so much talent and yet crumbled under the weight of it all. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to meet either of them. I wonder about the music they might have made if their fate had been to live on. Some of these imagined conversations play a part in my new works.”

Signed on front.