MY BROTHER'S COUNTRY, 2009
MIRDIDINGKINGATHI JUWARNDA SALLY GABORI
synthetic polymer paint on linen
151.0 x 151.0 cm
bears inscription verso: artist’s name, title, medium and Mornington Island Arts and Crafts cat. 4789-L-SG-0909 and Alcaston Gallery cat. AK15383
Mornington Island Arts and Crafts, Mornington Island, Queensland (stamped verso)
Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne (stamped on stretcher bar verso)
Private collection, Brisbane, acquired from the above in February 2010
Mararrki - My Big Brother, King Alfred's Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, 12 January - 6 February 2010 (illus. on front cover of exhibition invitation)
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Mornington Island Art and Alcaston Gallery which states: 'This is Makarrki on Bentinck island. It is where my big Brother King Alfred was born.'
In 1948, following a series of natural disasters, Sally Gabori along with the other inhabitants of Bentinck Island were forced to relocate to Gununa on nearby Mornington Island. Gabori had spent the first few decades of her long life on Bentinck Island, the island of her birth, living off the natural resources of the surrounding ocean and estuaries in the traditions of the Kaiadilt. Although Gabori resided on Mornington Island for the remainder of her long life, her connection to Bentinck Island life and culture was innate, and her success as an artist enabled her to return to country through her paintings. Her artworks ‘are a celebration of her homeland and illustrate a deep connection to country that has not diminished through physical separation.’1 My Brothers Country, 2009 is a gestural and expressive tribute to the landscape and history of Makarri to the north of Bentnick Island.
Utilising a limited but bold palette of flat planes and solid colours, Sally Gabori records her memories of Makarrki, or King Alfred’s country, on Bentinck Island. King Alfred, a leader and warrior was Gabori’s brother and a rival of her husband Pat Gabori, whose relationship with Gabori created intense friction within Kaiadilt society eventually resulting in the death of her brother. Makarrki is characterised by a large river and estuary that runs through the north of the Island with abundant sea-life including dugongs and turtles.2
1. Pinchbeck,C., ‘Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori’, in Lane, C. and Cubillo, F. (eds.), unDisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2012, p.64.
2 McLean, B., ‘Dulka Warngiid; The Whole World’ in Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori Dulka Warngiid; Land of All, Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2016 p. 24
CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE