Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori’s depictions of her homeland are abstract in nature, but retain representational elements which map traditional country and cultural identity in monumental paintings. Thundi (or Thunduyi) is her father’s Country, adjacent to a river near the island’s northern tip, which runs parallel to a ridge of tall sandhills that skirt its north-eastern…
Continue reading » “Sally Gabori paints her father’s country”
In Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori’s paintings places and people are inseparable, stemming from the Kaiadilt tradition of naming people through association with the place and totem one was born into. By adding the Kaiadilt suffix ~ngathi (meaning ‘born at’) to a person’s birthplace, a name is created. Sally Gabori, born by the small creek at…
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori was born around 1924 near a small creek on the southern side of Bentinck Island, in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria. This small island, measuring around 16 by 18 kilometres, is the Dulka Warngiid, the land of all, of the Kaiadilt people. ‘Danda ngijinda dulk, danda ngijinda malaa, danda ngad’ (This…
Continue reading » “Sally Gabori’s Dulka Warngiid – Land of All”
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori had close to a century of stories to tell by the time she passed away — stories of a traditional life lived with family on Bentinck Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria; stories of her brother, known as King Alfred, and his sworn rival Pat Gabori, whom Sally would later marry;…
Continue reading » “Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori: Dulka Warngiid – Land of all”
The fascinating career of the late Bentinck Island artist and senior Kaiadilt woman Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (c.1924–2015) is explored in a retrospective exhibition at the Gallery. ‘Dulka Warngiid – Land of All’ reveals Gabori’s instinct for vibrant colour, bold forms and gestural brushstrokes, and her deep connection to Country and her home, Bentinck Island. Taking…
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