Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori: Dulka Warngiid – Land of All

Overview

Artists might be born rather than made, and great art might be the product of all of life's experiences, but that doesn't mean the creatively inclined have to be in a hurry to put brush to canvas. Don't believe us? Well, late Bentinck Island artist and senior Kaiadilt woman Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori certainly wasn't.

Gabori might be the subject of the Queensland Art Gallery's latest retrospective; however she only started painting in 2005 at the age of 81. Of course, every year of her existence infuses her bold, bright pieces — from large-scale collaborative works produced alongside other senior Kaiadilt women, to pieces on paper created toward the end of her life.

Dulka Warngiid – Land of All showcases more than 50 of Gabori's efforts, as well as shining a light on the place — an island in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, off north-western Queensland, in northern Australia — she was linked to. For those keen to know more, a schedule of tours and talks dives deeper into the exhibition, and into a fascinating, late-in-life art career.

Image: All the fish, 2005, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. Gift of Jim Cousins, AO and Libby Cousins through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2013. Collection: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. © Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori. Licensed by Viscopy.