Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori's Life

REDOT FINE ART GALLERY in collaboration with Mornington Island Arts presents

Dibirdibi Country Revisited Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life A Collection of Mornington Island Indigenous Art

1 st June - 2 nd July 2016

Gallery 1

For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of this catalogue, with pricing, please send us an email to info@redotgallery.com Thank you.

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ReDot Fine Art Gallery respects Indigenous communities and culture and advocates the practice of purchasing exclusively from community art centre organisations.

Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this publication may contain images, names, references and/or stories of deceased persons which may cause sadness or distress.

Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life It is the honour and pleasure of ReDot Fine Art Gallery to announce an exhibition of stunning canvases by Mornington Island Arts artist, Sally Gabori (c. 1924 – 2015). This show celebrates the life of a courageous senior woman who revitalised her people by the seemingly insignificant decision to lift a paint brush to a canvas. While this show, entitled Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life, runs in Singapore, a retrospective of Sally Gabori’s work exhibits at the Queensland Art Gallery (QAGOMA) in Australia. It is a rare occasion for collectors and art enthusiasts to have access to a museum-grade show celebrating the development of an artist’s career with the coinciding opportunity to purchase that same artist’s work from a group of paintings and prints rarely viewed by public eye.

Sally Gabori became a national phenomenon and her works quickly became treasured and highly sought-after gems as she swept across Australia. Her works have been acquired by all major institutional collections across Australia and globally, her designs were showcased at the Venice Biennale and she has been commissioned on many

occasions for public and private installations, the latest of which saw her stunning Tjukurpa come to life in the halls of the Brisbane International airport.

From extremely humble beginnings and until the late 1940s, Sally Gabori lived on Bentinck Island with her people, the Kaiadilt, who had remained virtually untouched by any other culture or people group. A drought, a cyclone and contaminated water eventually forced Sally Gabori and her people to relocate to the nearby Mornington Island, an upheaval so traumatising that their language has become almost extinct.

Nearly fifty despondent and disorienting years later, Sally Gabori entered the Mornington Island Art Centre and began to paint, finding her new voice, a stronger voice than she’d ever known, in the movement of her brush and the broad shapes of colours on her canvases.

The contemporary landscapes of her country, her husband’s country, and her parents’ country are the focus of this exhibition because they best summarise who she was, why she was, and what she has become. The works chosen are in typical Sally Gabori style – expansive canvases, bold colours and contemporary expression, retelling stories of her and her family’s country. Although she painted for only eight years, those were the last eight years of her life, as if everything that had happened beforehand had prepared her for this great opportunity to record what no one else knew how to express.

This show is an opportunity to see a living and breathing memory of a disappearing culture and a nationally esteemed Australian Indigenous artist who now lives on in the masterpieces she has left behind for future generations across the world. The exhibition at ReDot Fine Art Gallery will also include works by Sally Gabori’s niece, Paula Paul, and other family members, running from Wednesday 1st June until Saturday 2nd July 2016, with an opening reception on Wednesday, 8th June 2016 at 6:30pm.

Giorgio Pilla Director ReDot Fine Art Gallery

Left Page: Aerial View of Bentinck Island Source: © Photo Courtesy of Tim Melville and Mornington Island Art Centre

Sally Gabori’s Country on Bentinck Island Source: © Photo Courtesy of Mornington Island Art Centre

MIRDIDINGKINGATHI JUWARNDA SALLY GABORI

Sally GABORI Birth Date Deceased Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

c. 1924 11th Feb 2015 Bentinck Island Kayardild Kaiadilt

Sally Gabori was one of the leading contemporary Australian Indigenous artists of the last decade. She started her artistic career very late in life when she was about 82 years old in 2005, but her emergence became one of the most exciting phenomena of the Australian Indigenous art movement in the last 15 years, wooing audiences both domestically and internationally with her incredibly bold, buoyant and colourful renditions of ancestral lands on Bentinck Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Born around 1924 in Bentinck Island, Sally Gabori led a traditional nomadic lifestyle as part of the Kaiadilt tribe until missionaries arrived in early 1940s and moved the Kaiadilt population to Mornington Island. As a young woman, she was a keen weaver and made string bags and other artefacts, though she never participated in Mornington Island’s substantial art, artefact and craft industry in the 1950s.

Her introduction to Western painting mediums was no more than a coincidence. In 2005, as she was waiting to be taken to gather grass for weaving, she was given a canvas and started experimenting. She had a natural flair with colours; more paintings were produced, each carrying more certainty and confidence than the one before.

Within seven months, she had enough paintings to hold her first solo exhibition in Brisbane. It was a sell-out.

It was not long before her canvases were sought after by leading galleries and collectors Australia-wide. Numerous solo and group exhibitions soon followed, and she was largely successful with many sold-out solo shows in Australian top galleries.

Sally Gabori has also left a lasting impression in the international art world, with her works extensively exhibited in various countries including New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America and South Korea. Her works are featured in important collections and major institutions in Australia and abroad, including the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), MusĂŠe du Quai Branly, France and the Museum of contemporary Aboriginal art (AAMU), Netherlands.

In 2013, Sally Gabori was invited to present her works at the 55th Venice Biennale, in Personal Structures, a significant milestone and acknowledgment in the global art market. In the following year, she was awarded a commission by the Brisbane International Airport, with her artworks reproduced in large scale to cover the walls of the arrival concourse which spans 750 metres long.

Canberra’s Drill Hall Gallery’s Director, Terence Maloon, has summed up the brilliance of her works well: “How to explain the naked power of her use of colour, the commanding scale of her work, the sheer flair of this untutored painter – someone who had never actually seen paintings by Patrick Heron, Robert Motherwell, Jean Bazaine, but with whose spirit her art seems so close of kin? Her work has come to be associated with a joyous, extroverted timbre of sizzling scarlets, piercing yellows, opulent blues. Even American painter Barnett Newman once commented: ‘Who’s afraid of red, yellow and blue?’ – Sally Gabori certainly is not.”

Sally Gabori passed away in February 2015. Representing family and the Mornington Island Community, Mornington Island Arts released a statement: “Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda (Mrs. Gabori) b. c. 1924 to 11th February 2015, who was and is, a respected traditional Kaiadilt elder died peacefully surrounded by family and friends this morning.

She was a well-loved and respected member of the community who will be remembered and sorely missed.”

Collections The Laverty Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Lagerberg-Swift Collection, Perth, WA, Australia.

The Marshall Collection, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

The Merenda Collection, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

Peter & Agnes Cooke Collection, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA), Perth, WA, Australia.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

The Corrigan Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia.

Leeuwin Estate, Margaret River, WA, Australia.

Harding Family Collection, Australia.

The Arthur Roe Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Macquarie Bank, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

University of Western Sydney (UWS) Art Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Supreme & District Court, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Museum of contemporary Aboriginal art (AAMU), Utrecht, Netherlands.

Newcastle Art Gallery (NAG), Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France.

Chartwell Collection, Auckland, New Zealand.

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, New Zealand.

Wheelock Properties Art Collection, Singapore.

Ogge-Milou Art Collection, Singapore.

Awards 2014 Finalist – 31st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

2012 Winner – Togart Contemporary Art Award - Chan Contemporary Art Space,

Darwin, NT, Australia.

Winner – The Gold Award - Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia.

2008 Finalist – Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards - Art Gallery of Western

Australia (AGWA), Perth, WA, Australia.

2007 Finalist – 24th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

Finalist – Togart Contemporary Art Award - Chan Contemporary Art Space,

Darwin, NT, Australia.

2006 Finalist – Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award - Queensland Art Gallery |

Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Finalist – ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award - ABN AMRO Tower, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2016 Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori: Dulka Warngiid – Land of All Queensland Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD & National

Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2015 Sally Gabori: Colour Country – A Survey 2005 – 2013 - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2014 Sally Gabori - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Danda ngijinda dulk, danda nginjinda malaa, danda ngad – This is my Land, this is my

Sea. This is who I am (A Survey Exhibition of Paintings by Sally Gabori, 2005 – 2012)

- Drill Hall Gallery (at Australian National University), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Dibirdibi Country - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

2011 Dibirdibi Country, My Country – Sally Gabori Solo Show - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Kalka Dulk – Bright Country - Alcaston Gallery (at The Depot Gallery), Sydney,

NSW, Australia.

Ngumuwa Kinyint – Dark Shapes - Alcaston Gallery (at Gipps Street Gallery),

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2010 Sally Gabori: Danda dulk nginjinda dulk (This Land is My Land) - Kluge-Ruhe

Aboriginal Art Collection (at University of Virginia), Virginia, USA.

Mundamurra Ngijinda Dulk: My Island Home, Sally Gabori - The Gallery in Cork

Street, London, United Kingdom.

Dreaming in Colour - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

Makarrki – My Big Brother, King Alfred’s Country - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne,

VIC, Australia.

2009 Sally Gabori - Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

2009 Nyinyilki Country – Nyinyilki is where we catch Barramundi - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

From Memory - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

All About Art: The Island Story – A Moment in the Sun - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2008 My Country - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

Sally Gabori: Dulka Warngiid, Land of All - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2007 Dibirdibi Country - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2005 Sally’s Story - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art

Gallery, Singapore.

Colour Forms: Paintings & Sculpture from Mornington Island - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2015 Sydney Contemporary 15, Carriageworks, Sydney, NSW, Australia (Represented

by Alcaston Gallery).

Currents: Trends & Movements in Queensland Indigenous Art Centres - Tanks

Arts Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Mornington Island Art featuring Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2014 ReDot Fine Art Gallery @ Scotts Square Exhibition - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Colour Me Brisbane Public Art Exhibition, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

(Represented by Alcaston Gallery).

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Seascapes of Bentinck Island - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Masterpiece London 2014, The Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, United Kingdom

(Represented by JGM Fine Art).

My Country: contemporary Art from Black Australia - Auckland Art Gallery Toi o

Tāmaki, Auckland, New Zealand.

31st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award - Museum & Art

Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

2013 Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Singapore (Represented by ReDot Fine Art Gallery).

All About Art - The Depot Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Personal Structures – 55th Venice Biennale - Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Italy.

Action/Abstraction - Wangaratta Art Gallery, Wangaratta, VIC, Australia.

Sydney Contemporary 13, Carriageworks, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Fleurieu Art Prize - Chapel Hill Winery, McLaren Vale; Stump Hill Gallery,

McLaren Vale; Kay Brothers Winery, McLaren Vale & Stationmasters Gallery,

Strathalbyn, SA, Australia.

Ngamathungarrba Marraanjuthu Dulka – Mother & Daughters Teach Other About

Country - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2012 Urban & Terrain – Mercedes-Benz Showroom Collection (Part 1) - ReDot Fine Art

Gallery (at Mercedes-Benz Center), Singapore.

Pattern & Palette – A Salon Show for Indigenous Literacy - DMCPR Media in

conjunction with McCulloch & McCulloch, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

All About Art: Annual Collectors’ Exhibition - Alcaston Gallery (at The Depot

Gallery), Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Big Scope: Painting & Place - Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Lake Macquarie,

NSW, Australia.

Artists from Bentinck & Mornington Island, Queensland - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

(Represented by Alcaston Gallery).

Sally Gabori & Paula Paul: Mirrayarrngka makalmakaliyarrngk – Two Great Old

Women - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Korea International Art Fair, COEX Building, Seoul, South Korea (Represented by

Alcaston Gallery).

The Gold Award - Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia.

Heart & Soul: The Laverty Collection - Museum of contemporary Aboriginal art

(AAMU), Utrecht, Netherlands.

Gold Coast Art Prize - Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.

Australia - Royal Academy of the Arts in conjunction with National Gallery of

Australia (NGA), London, United Kingdom.

Togart Contemporary Art Award - Chan Contemporary Art Space, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Where The Art Leads: New Explorations by Queensland Indigenous Artists Cairns Regional Art Gallery, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

unDisclosed – 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial - National Gallery of

Australia (NGA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

2012 Geelong Contemporary Art Prize - Geelong Gallery, Geelong VIC, Australia.

The Bright, The Bold & The Beautiful - Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney,

NSW, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2011 Mornington Island: The Heart of Everything - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Singapore (Represented by ReDot Fine Art Gallery).

Artists from Mornington Island Arts – Recent Paintings and Sculpture - Alcaston

Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Northern Impressions: A Celebration of Contemporary Printmaking - Chan

Contemporary Arts Space, Darwin, NT & Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Lake

Macquarie, NSW, Australia (Touring Exhibition).

Australia in Two Colours - ArtKelch, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

2010 American Club Survey Show 2010 - ReDot Fine Art Gallery (at The American

Club), Singapore.

Crossing Borders - ArtKelch, Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Ngamathungarrba Bakiinda Mirrayalath – Mother and Daughters Making Things

Together - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2009 Ngalla marraaju wuuju dulka kilwanmaruthu/we’ll show you our country - ReDot

Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Women’s Tjukurrpa Dreaming - ReDot Fine Art Gallery (at The Australian High

Commission), Singapore.

Now 2.0 - ACGA Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

26th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award - Museum & Art

Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Bentinck Island Artists – Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Korea International Art Fair, COEX Building, Seoul, South Korea.

2008 Bentick Island Artists - Caruana & Reid Fine Art (now Michael Reid Gallery),

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Bandikawaanda makuwalada rarunginja thaand - Return of Kaiadilt Women Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Optimism: Contemporary Australia -Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern

Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards - Art Gallery of Western Australia

(AGWA), Perth, WA, Australia.

2007 Painting Up Country: New Art from the Mornington and Bentinck Islands KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

The Painters of Bentinck Island - Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT, Australia.

24th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award - Museum & Art

Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

Togart Contemporary Art Award – Darwin Convention Centre & Parliament

House, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Dulka Warngiid – Bentinck Island Artists, featuring Netta Loogatha - Alcaston

Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Mornington Island Art featuring Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori Alcaston Gallery (at The Depot Gallery), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Lardil, Kaiadilt, Yangkaal - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

2006 Sally Gabori & Introducing the Bentinck Island Art Gang - Grantpirrie Gallery,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

(Represented by Alcaston Gallery).

Big Ones Little Ones - Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

My Country - Noosa Blue Resort, Noosa, QLD, Australia.

New Works from Mornington Island - Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award - Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery

of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Gatherings 2 - Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA),

Brisbane & KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 198 x 101cm 3660-L-SG-1008

SGD13,500 (excluding GST)

“This is a freshwater hunting ground in my husband’s country on Bentinck Island.”

Sally GABORI

My Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 198 x 101cm 4411-L-SG-0609

SGD13,500 (excluding GST)

“This is a mangrove swamp in my country. We hunt for crabs and dig up mudshell here.”

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 137 x 137cm 7080-L-SG-0611

SGD12,500 (excluding GST)

“This is my husband’s country on Bentinck Island. It is a country with rugged ironstones and salt pans.”

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 137 x 121cm 4272-L-SG-0509

SGD12,000 (excluding GST)

“This is a freshwater swamp not far from the saltpan. We find freshwater nuts and swamp turtle here.”

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 152 x 101cm 3093-L-SG-0408

SGD11,000 (excluding GST)

“My painting shows the big saltpan that runs across my husband’s country on Bentinck Island. Next to it are some areas of mangroves.”

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 152 x 101cm 3125-L-SG-0408

SGD11,000 (excluding GST)

“This is my husband’s country. It has saltpans and bush country as well as big areas of long grass which we weave into string to make bags and nets.”

Sally GABORI

My Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 152 x 101cm 3597-L-SG-0908

SGD11,000 (excluding GST)

“This is a big saltpan next to the river where I was born.”

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 152 x 101cm 4562-L-SG-0709

SGD11,000 (excluding GST)

“This is the saltpan that covers part of my husband’s country on Bentinck Island.”

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 152 x 101cm 4579-L-SG-0809

SGD11,000 (excluding GST)

“This is the saltpan that covers part of my husband’s country on Bentinck Island.”

Sally GABORI

Thundi Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 152 x 91cm 6691-L-SG-0311

SGD10,500 (excluding GST)

“This is where my father was born on Bentinck Island.”

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 121 x 91cm 3080-L-SG-0308

SGD8,500 (excluding GST)

“My painting shows the large grass plain on my husband’s country. This is the grass we pick to weave into string to make bags and nets.”

Sally Gabori Painting in Mornington Island Studio between 200

Source: © Photos Courtesy of Mornington Island Art Centre

08 – 2011

Paula Paul’s Country on Bentinck Island Source: © Photo Courtesy of Mornington Island Art Centre

KURUWARRIYINGATHI BIJARRB PAULA PAUL

Paula PAUL Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

c. 1937 Bentinck Island Kayardild Kaiadilt

Like other artists from Bentinck Island, Paula Paul came late to art and art making. She was born circa 1937 and lived a completely traditional island life with her “sisters” – the late Sally Gabori (c. 1924 – 2015), Dawn Naranatjil (c. 1935 – 2009) and May Moodoonuthi (c. 1929 – 2008), as well as Netta Loogatha, Amy Loogatha and Ethel Thomas (all born between 1942 and 1946). These women had little contact with non-Kaiadilt people and none at all with European settlers until their forced removal to Mornington Island (also part of the Wellesley Islands) in 1948 as a result of a severe drought during the 1940s and a cyclone in 1948.

Paula Paul’s earliest paintings depicted her favourite motifs of the time: shells, rocks and oyster reefs represented as roundels of contrasting colour on darkly painted backgrounds (often blues or deep purples). She said of these works: “Along the beach of my country are big white rocks. I paint them and I paint the little white shells that are up on the beach. We call them dinghy shells.”

Paula’s work is continually evolving. Her Burrkunda (ceremonial body scars) paintings are constructed differently to the works that feature shells – the backgrounds are white and the marks are made using a single colour. They record the Kaiadilt tradition of marking the body: the ritualised scarring undertaken by men, and the mourning behaviour of women that involves making multiple cuts on their scalps as expressions of grief. Thick stripes of paint are used to build up a surface of markings producing sombre yet highly significant works. They are dramatic in their simplicity and beauty, and stand alone in her oeuvre.

The strong relationship between Paula Paul’s paintings and body markings was noted by anthropologist Dr Paul Memmott, who, in 1982, mapped the Kaiadilt geography of Sweers Island with Paula’s late husband.

Even though Paula paints on Mornington Island during the wet season, the work is informed by her extensive and detailed memories of Bentinck Island. She says: “I think about what they [the fish traps and reefs] look like on my country, I think about the last time I saw them and think I am there.”

Paula Paul’s work has been exhibited widely throughout Australia, most notably in commercial shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Darwin and Cairns. She was also part of the exhibition ’Together’ at the Sharjah Museum for Contemporary Arab Art in the United Arab Emirates in 2008, and her journey is recorded in the book The Heart of Everything: the art and artists of Mornington and Bentinck Islands, published in 2008. Her first solo exhibition was in Melbourne in the same year. These are significant achievements for an artist in their 70s who has been painting for only a few years.

Like many older Indigenous artists, painting for Paula is a way of describing iconography. Her stories originate in the daily lives of Bentinck Island people, both from her memory as a very young person and her experiences today. But there is also a fragility about the situation, as the tiny Kaiadilt community continues to shrink. The circumstances of their forced removal have resulted in younger generations being unable to speak their Kayardild language.

Collections Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth, WA, Australia.

The Laverty Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Lagerberg-Swift Collection, Perth, WA, Australia.

The Marshall Collection, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Chartwell Collection, Auckland, New Zealand.

Peter & Agnes Cooke Collection, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Harriett & Richard England Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Awards 2011 Finalist – Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards - Art Gallery of Western

Australia (AGWA), Perth, WA, Australia

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2013 2011 2010 2008

Paula Paul – Survey Exhibition - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Kunthurlt – Flat Reef – Paula Paul - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cockle Shells – Paula Paul - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art

Gallery, Singapore.

Colour Forms: Paintings & Sculpture from Mornington Island - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2014 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Songlines Travelling to America - ReDot Fine Art Gallery (at ALEMBIC),

California, United States of America.

ReDot Fine Art Gallery @ Scotts Square Exhibition - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2013 Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Singapore (Represented by ReDot Fine Art Gallery).

2012 Artists from Bentinck & Mornington Island, Queensland - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Sally Gabori & Paula Paul: Mirrayarrngka makalmakaliyarrngk – Two Great Old

Women - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Urban & Terrain – Mercedes-Benz Showroom Collection (Part 1) - ReDot Fine Art

Gallery (at Mercedes-Benz Center), Singapore.

2011 Korea International Art Fair, COEX Building, Seoul, South Korea.

Artists from Mornington Island Arts - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Mornington Island: The Heart of Everything - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

2010 Stockroom Christmas Show 2010 - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

2009 Women’s Tjukurrpa Dreaming - ReDot Fine Art Gallery (at The Australian High

Commission), Singapore.

Ngalla marraaju wuuju dulka kilwanmaruthu/we’ll show you our country - ReDot

Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Korea International Art Fair, COEX Building, Seoul, South Korea.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

2008 A Trip Around the Desert - ReDot Fine Art Gallery (at The Australian High

Commission), Singapore.

Bentick Island Artists - Caruana & Reid Fine Art (now Michael Reid Gallery),

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Together - Sharjah Museum for Contemporary Arab Art, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

2007 Painters of Bentinck Island - Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Lardil, Kaiadilt, Yangkaal - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Painting Up Country: New Art from the Mornington and Bentinck Islands KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2006 Sally Gabori & Introducing the Bentinck Island Art Gang - Grantpirrie Gallery,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Bentinck Island Project - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Paula PAUL

Burrkunda Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 121 x 91cm 4329-L-PP-0509

SGD8,250 (excluding GST)

“When someone close to us passes away, we Bentinck ladies would cut ourselves, leaving scars on our bodies which are called Burrkunda.�

Paula PAUL

Flat Reef Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 121 x 91cm 6319-L-PP-1110

SGD8,250 (excluding GST)

“This is a flat reef near where I was born on Bentinck Island. This is where the really big rock oysters are found.”

Paula PAUL

Kamarra Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 121 x 91cm 6491-L-PP-0111

SGD8,250 (excluding GST)

“These flat reefs that I like to paint are made up of stones or Kamarra.”

Paula PAUL

Kuruwarriyingathi (Black Snake) Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 91 x 61cm 6454-L-PP-0111

SGD6,000 (excluding GST)

“These are big rock oysters that grow near where I was born on Bentinck Island.”

Landscape of Nyinyilki, southeast of Bentinck Island Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Mornington Island Art Centre

OTHER MORNINGTON ISLAND ARTISTS

Amanda Jane GABORI Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

1966 Mornington Island Kayardild Kaiadilt

Amanda Jane Gabori is the daughter of the late Sally Gabori (c. 1924 – 2015), one of the leading contemporary Australian Indigenous artists of the last decade.

Amanda started painting after seeing the enjoyment it gave her mother. She has been exhibiting with Mornington Island Arts in many group exhibitions since 2010 and was a finalist in the Churchie National Emerging Art Prize in 2010.

Her paintings depict her country on Bentinck Island and her father’s country called Dibirdibi. Dibirdibi is also a term for the small river rock cod, which is Amanda’s totem.

Awards 2010 Finalist – The Churchie National Emerging Art Prize - Griffith University,

Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016

2015

Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) Fashion Performance – Birrimbi Dulgu Bajal (Sea and Rainforest Dreaming) - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

MI Art, MI Fashion, MI Models - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival (at Alcaston Gallery), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

My Island Home - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF), Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin, NT, Australia.

2015 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) Fashion Performance – Birrimbi Dulgu Bajal

(Sea and Rainforest Dreaming) - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Currents: Trends & Movements in Queensland Indigenous Art Centres - Tanks

Arts Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

International Women’s Day Exhibition - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2014 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

2013 Kinship – A Celebration of Fine Arts from Far North Queensland Indigenous Art

Centre - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Ngamathungarrba Marraanjuthu Dulka – Mother & Daughters Teach Other About

Country - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2012 Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Singapore (Represented by ReDot Fine Art Gallery).

Artists from Bentinck & Mornington Island, Queensland - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2011 Artists from Mornington Island Arts - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Mornington Island: The Heart of Everything - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

2010 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Ngamathungarrba Bakiinda Mirrayalath – Mother and Daughters Making Things

Together - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Amanda Jane GABORI

Dibirdibi Scales Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 137 x 61cm 5677-L-AG-0310

SGD2,500 (excluding GST)

“These are the scales of my totem. Dibirdibi is the small river rock cod.”

Amanda Jane GABORI

Dibirdibi Scales Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 137 x 61cm 5670-L-AG-0310

SGD2,500 (excluding GST)

“These are the scales of my totem. Dibirdibi is the small river rock cod.”

Amanda Jane GABORI

Dibirdibi Scales Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 101 x 76cm 5443-L-AG-0210

SGD2,250 (excluding GST)

“These are the scales of my totem. Dibirdibi is the small river rock cod.”

Elsie GABORI Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

c. 1947 Bentinck Island Kayardild Kaiadilt

Elsie Gabori is the daughter of the late Sally Gabori (c. 1924 – 2015), one of the leading contemporary Australian Indigenous artists of the last decade.

Elsie was born on Bentinck Island circa 1947. Due to a severe shortage of fresh water, the population on Bentinck Island was moved to Mornington Island.

Growing up on Mornington Island, she attended the local school until the age of 15 and later worked as a housemaid in the mission house.

A vacancy later opened on a cattle property on the mainland at Kamilaroy and Elsie was sent there to work for three years before she returned to Mornington Island. Together with her current partner, Bob Thompson, they raised a family of 3 girls and 2 boys.

When Elsie started painting for Mornington Island Arts, her mother has already established herself as a successful artist. Seeing Sally’s achievements and the enjoyment painting gave her mother, Elsie was motivated to experiment for herself.

Elsie’s work is inspired by the stories of Bentinck Island and her people.

Awards 2012

Finalist – Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize - Macquarie Group, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Finalist – 29th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art

Gallery, Singapore.

2016 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) Fashion Performance – Birrimbi Dulgu Bajal (Sea and Rainforest Dreaming) - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

MI Art, MI Fashion, MI Models - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival (at

Alcaston Gallery), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2015 My Island Home - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF), Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) Fashion Performance – Birrimbi Dulgu

Bajal (Sea and Rainforest Dreaming) - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Currents: Trends & Movements in Queensland Indigenous Art Centres - Tanks

Arts Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

International Women’s Day Exhibition - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2014 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Pencil, Paint, Paper – Seascapes of Bentinck Island - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2013 Kinship – A Celebration of Fine Arts from Far North Queensland Indigenous Art

Centre - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Ngamathungarrba Marraanjuthu Dulka – Mother & Daughters Teach Other About

Country - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2012 Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize - Macquarie Group, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Artists from Bentinck & Mornington Island, Queensland - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

29th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award - Museum & Art

Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

2011 Artists from Mornington Island Arts - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

2010 Mornington Island Arts - KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Ngamathungarrba Bakiinda Mirrayalath – Mother and Daughters Making Things

Together - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Elsie GABORI

My Mum’s Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas 100 x 100cm 7783-C-EG-0712

SGD2,250 (excluding GST)

“This is my mum’s, Sally Gabori’s, country. It is also on the southern side of Bentinck Island, next to my dad’s country.”

Elsie GABORI

My Mum’s Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas 100 x 75cm 7818-C-EG-0812

SGD1,700 (excluding GST)

“This is my mum’s, Sally Gabori’s, country. It is also on the southern side of Bentinck Island, next to my dad’s country.”

Elsie GABORI

My Dad’s Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas 90 x 70cm 7105-C-EG-0711

SGD1,400 (excluding GST)

“This is my dad’s country on Bentinck Island. It is on the southern side near the coast.”

Elsie GABORI

My Dad’s Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas 90 x 60cm 7153-C-EG-0711

SGD1,200 (excluding GST)

“My dad’s country is near the coast on the southern side of Bentinck Island. There is a small river and it is mainly bush country.”

Elsie GABORI

My Dad’s Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas 90 x 60cm 7170-C-EG-0711

SGD1,200 (excluding GST)

“My dad’s country is near the coast on the southern side of Bentinck Island. There is a small river and it is mainly bush country.”

Elsie GABORI

My Dad’s Country Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas 90 x 60cm 7646-C-EG-0412

SGD1,200 (excluding GST)

“This is a panja swamp on my dad’s country on Bentinck Island. Panja is a nut that we dig for when swamps dry up.”

Amy LOOGATHA Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

c. 1942 Bentinck Island Kayardild Kaiadilt

Amy Loogatha was born at Nyinyilki on Bentinck Island. She was a young child when she and her Kaiadilt relatives were taken to Mornington Island.

Amy describes her life in the Mornington Island dormitories ‘difficult’, where the children were fed flour and their clothes were as rough as canvases she now paints on. As she got older, she worked at several stations before returning to Mornington Island and starting a family.

Amy eventually returned to her traditional country on Bentinck Island when land rights were given to the her Kaiadilt people.

Following her aunt’s, Sally Gabori’s (c. 1924 – 2015) success as an artist, Sally revisited her homelands on Bentinck Island and it was then Amy was first shown her paintings.

Inspired by Sally and following her lead, Amy now paints with Mornington Island Arts, alongside her sisters and other aunts.

Collections National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Awards 2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2009

2007

2006

Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

My Island Home - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) Fashion Performance – Birrimbi Dulgu Bajal (Sea and Rainforest Dreaming) - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Currents: Trends & Movements in Queensland Indigenous Art Centres - Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

International Women’s Day Exhibition - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Kinship – A Celebration of Fine Arts from Far North Queensland Indigenous Art Centre - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Artists from Bentinck & Mornington Island, Queensland - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Korea International Art Fair, COEX Building, Seoul, South Korea.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Bentinck Island Artists featuring Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Above and Beyond - Caruana & Reid Fine Art (now Michael Reid Gallery), Sydney, NSW, Australia.

The Painters of Bentinck Island - Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Painting Up Country: New Art from the Mornington and Bentinck Islands KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Sally Gabori & Introducing the Bentinck Island Art Gang - Grantpirrie Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Big Ones Little Ones - Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Bentinck Island Project - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Amy LOOGATHA

Bijurr Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 121 x 91cm 2133-L-AL-0307

SGD4,000 (excluding GST)

“My painting shows Bijurr or pippies that we dig up from the beach to eat. We boil them or cook them on the coals of a fire.”

May MOODOONUTHI Birth Date Deceased Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

c. 1929 2008 Bentinck Island Kayardild Kaiadilt

Like many others, May Moodoonuthi was taken from Bentinck Island to Mornington Island by missionaries in the early 1940s. She married Darwin Moodoonuthi (1939 – 1983), who was instrumental in the land rights movement and returning Kaiadilt people to Bentinck Island.

According to anthropologist Penny Johnson who knew May Moodoonuthi since 1982, she was described as an “impressive tracker and an amazing fisher woman and hunter”. She was also a skilled weaver and made fine bags and necklaces.

Inspired by her sister, Sally Gabori’s (c. 1924 – 2015) painting success, she started painting for Mornington Island Arts in 2005 and was one of the earliest of the new senior women’s painting movement.

May Moodoonuthi’s paintings include the depiction of rocks from her birthplace, Bentinck Island, but mostly she illustrates body markings such as ceremonial body scars or Burrkunda. Her work is distinguished with strong gestural brushstrokes, multi-layered with paint, giving her paintings a rich texture and great depth of perspective.

May Moodoonuthi passed away in 2008, shortly after she started painting, but without a doubt, her work continues to inspire the following generations. Her greatgranddaughter, Claudia Moodoonuthi, whom she raised till age seven, is now an aspiring artist influenced by her traditions and connection to country.

Collections Lagerberg-Swift Collection, Perth, WA, Australia.

The Marshall Collection, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

The Merenda Collection, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art

Gallery, Singapore.

Colour Forms: Paintings & Sculpture from Mornington Island - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2015 International Women’s Day Exhibition - Tanks Art Gallery, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2011 Mornington Island: The Heart of Everything - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

2008 Bentick Island Artists - Caruana & Reid Fine Art (now Michael Reid Gallery),

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2007 Painters of Bentinck Island - Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Painting Up Country: New Art from the Mornington and Bentinck Islands KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2006 Sally Gabori & Introducing the Bentinck Island Art Gang - Grantpirrie Gallery,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Bentinck Island Project - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

May MOODOONUTHI

Burrkunda Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 198 x 101cm 2515-L-MM-0807

SGD7,000 (excluding GST)

“When someone close to us passes away, we Bentinck ladies would cut ourselves, leaving scars on our bodies which are called Burrkunda.”

May MOODOONUTHI

Burrkunda Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 198 x 101cm 2795-L-MM-1107

SGD7,000 (excluding GST)

“When someone close to us passes away, we Bentinck ladies would cut ourselves, leaving scars on our bodies which are called Burrkunda.”

May MOODOONUTHI

Rocks Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 152 x 101cm 1914-L-MM-0207

SGD5,500 (excluding GST)

“My painting shows all the rocks that cover some of our beaches on Bentinck Island.”

May MOODOONUTHI

Rocks Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 152 x 101cm 2060-L-MM-0307

SGD5,500 (excluding GST)

“My painting shows all the rocks that cover some of our beaches on Bentinck Island.”

May MOODOONUTHI

Rocks Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 137 x 122cm 3016-L-MM-0308

SGD5,500 (excluding GST)

“There are many rocks all over Bentinck Island. These are large ones near Main Base Outstation.”

May MOODOONUTHI

Rocks Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 151 x 101cm 2792-L-MM-1107

SGD5,500 (excluding GST)

“I like to paint the rocks that cover the ground in places around Bentinck Island.”

Ethel THOMAS Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

c. 1946 Bentinck Island Kayardild Kaiadilt

Ethel Thomas was born at Oak Tree Point on Bentinck Island, or also known as Lookati, located on the northern side of the island. Ethel was a young child when the missionaries moved the population to Mornington Island.

Like many children, she grew up in the dormitories away from her parents. As she got older, she worked in the local hospital and mission house, then later moved around other stations until she met her husband and returned to Mornington Island.

After her husband’s passing, she returned to Bentinck Island, where an outstation was established at Main Base or Ninjilki.

Following her aunt’s, Sally Gabori’s (c. 1924 – 2015) success as an artist, Sally revisited her homelands on Bentinck Island and it was then Ethel was first shown her paintings.

Inspired by Sally and following her lead, Ethel now paints with Mornington Island Arts, alongside her sisters and other aunts.

Collections National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Merenda Collection, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016

2015

2012

2011

2010 2009

2008

2007

2006

Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

My Island Home - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) Fashion Performance – Birrimbi Dulgu Bajal (Sea and Rainforest Dreaming) - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Currents: Trends & Movements in Queensland Indigenous Art Centres - Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

International Women’s Day Exhibition - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Artists from Bentinck & Mornington Island, Queensland - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Korea International Art Fair, COEX Building, Seoul, South Korea.

Artists from Mornington Island Arts - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Bentick Island Artists - Caruana & Reid Fine Art (now Michael Reid Gallery), Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Bandikawaanda makuwalada rarunginja thaand - Return of Kaiadilt Women Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Bentinck Island Artists featuring Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Painters of Bentinck Island - Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Painting Up Country: New Art from the Mornington and Bentinck Islands KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Big Ones Little Ones - Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Sally Gabori & Introducing the Bentinck Island Art Gang - Grantpirrie Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Bentinck Island Project - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Ethel THOMAS

Love Rocks Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen 101 x 76cm 4887-L-ET-1009

SGD3,250 (excluding GST)

“These are rocks that women can use to charm men that they like.”

Ethel THOMAS

Markarrki Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas 122 x 91cm 1181-C-ET-0406

SGD3,100 (excluding GST)

“My painting is about a special place on Bentinck Island called Markarrki.”

Landscape Features of Bentinck Island Source: © Photo Courtesy of Mornington Island Art Centre

ETCHINGS

Sally GABORI

Makarrki Etching - Edition of 25 100 x 50cm 4759-SG-0909

SGD3,000 (excluding GST)

“Makarrki is a special place on Bentinck Island. This is where King Alfred was born. He was my big brother.�

Available editions: 12/25 13/25 14/25 15/25

For the CV of Sally Gabori, kindly refer to page 10.

Sally GABORI

Makarrki Etching - Edition of 25 50 x 50cm 4757-SG-0909

SGD2,000 (excluding GST)

“Makarrki is a special place on Bentinck Island. This is where King Alfred was born. He was my big brother.�

Available editions: 13/25 17/25 18/25

For the CV of Sally Gabori, kindly refer to page 10.

Sally GABORI

Dibirdibi Country Etching - Edition of 25 50 x 50cm 4758-SG-0909

SGD2,000 (excluding GST)

“This is my husband’s country on Bentinck Island.”

Available editions: 13/25 14/25 15/25 16/25 17/25 18/25

For the CV of Sally Gabori, kindly refer to page 10.

Paula PAUL

Oysters Etching - Edition of 25 100 x 50cm 4760-PP-0909

SGD1,350 (excluding GST)

“I like to eat the big oysters that grow on my country on Bentinck Island.”

Available editions: 11/25 12/25 13/25 14/25 15/25 16/25 17/25 19/25

For the CV of Paula Paul, kindly refer to page 46.

Netta LOOGATHA Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

c.1942 Bentinck Island Kayardild Kaiadilt

Netta Loogatha was born circa 1942 at Bilmee, on the northern side of Bentinck Island. Her father was ‘King Alfred’ of the Makarrki area of Bentinck Island, and her aunt was Sally Gabori (c. 1924 – 2015).

In 1946, Netta was taken to Mornington Island with the rest of her Kaiadilt relatives. She later became one of the first Kaiadilt women to begin painting in October 2005, following Sally’s lead.

Now painting for Mornington Island Arts, Netta’s paintings are distinguished by the strong delineated imagery and definite colours. As Queensland Art Gallery curator Bruce McLean observed: “…Loogatha has developed her painting style with vivid use of colour and a unique arrangement of country. Her intense palette and liberal application of layers give her mas of country a vivid aesthetic that, at times, verges on visual sensory overload, although the emotion conveyed is not one of overcrowding but a feeling of energy, of warmth, of life, of movement, of vibrancy.”

Many of her works are inspired by her father’s Makarrki country and often present an intricate map of her homelands and sacred sites on Bentinck Island. Sacred sites are believed to have been created by ancestral beings who ‘left something of their magical spirit essence’. It is this quality which Netta brings to her paintings, celebrating also the lushness of her lands through use of jewel-like colour which includes oftenfavoured clear greens, yellows and reds.

Collections National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Leeuwin Estate, Margaret River, WA, Australia.

Lagerberg-Swift Collection, Perth, WA, Australia.

The Marshall Collection, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

The Merenda Collection, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

Artbank Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The John Mainwaring Collection, Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia.

Awards 2016

Finalist – Swan Hill Print & Drawing Acquisitive Awards - Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Sawn Hill, VIC, Australia.

Finalist – Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing - Adelaide Perry Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2013 Netta Loogatha – New Paintings - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016

Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

Swan Hill Print & Drawing Acquisitive Awards - Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Sawn Hill, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) Fashion Performance – Birrimbi Dulgu Bajal (Sea and Rainforest Dreaming) - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2016 MI Art, MI Fashion, MI Models - Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Festival (at

Alcaston Gallery), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Colour Forms: Paintings & Sculpture from Mornington Island - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing - Adelaide Perry Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

2015 My Island Home - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Currents: Trends & Movements in Queensland Indigenous Art Centres - Tanks

Arts Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Warriors, Sorcerers & Spirits - KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

International Women’s Day Exhibition - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Indigenous Art Moving Backwards into the Future - National Gallery of Victoria

(NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2014 Colour Me Brisbane Public Art Exhibition, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Pencil, Paint, Paper – Seascapes of Bentinck Island - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2013 Kinship – A Celebration of Fine Arts from Far North Queensland Indigenous Art

Centre - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

An Architect’s Eye - Centre of Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2012 Artists from Bentinck & Mornington Island, Queensland - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

2011 Korea International Art Fair, COEX Building, Seoul, South Korea.

Artists from Mornington Island Arts - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Painting Country: Recent Acquisitions of Indigenous Art - University of

Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

2010 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2009 Bentinck Island Artists – Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2009 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

2008 Bandikawaanda makuwalada rarunginja thaand - Return of Kaiadilt Women Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2007 Dulka Warngiid – Bentinck Island Artists, featuring Netta Loogatha - Alcaston

Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award - Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery

of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Painters of Bentinck Island - Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Painting Up Country: New Art from the Mornington and Bentinck Islands KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Lardil, Kaiadilt, Yangkaal - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

24th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Art Award - Museum & Art

Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin, NT, Australia.

Mornington Island Art featuring Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori Alcaston Gallery (at The Depot Gallery), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2006 Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

(Represented by Alcaston Gallery).

Sally Gabori & Introducing the Bentinck Island Art Gang - Grantpirrie Gallery,

Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Big Ones Little Ones - Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Bentinck Island Project - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Birrmuyi - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Netta LOOGATHA

Makarrki Etching - Edition of 25 100 x 50cm 4761-NL-0909

SGD1,350 (excluding GST)

“This is where my father King Alfred was born on Bentinck Island.”

Available editions: 12/25 13/25 14/25 15/25

Reggie ROBERTSON Birth Date Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

c. 1940 Bentinck Island Gangalidda Gangalidda

Reggie Robertson was born at the Mornington Island mission, after his parents were brought there.

He grew up studying at the local school and worked in a factory on Denham Island.

In 1973, Reggie performed at the Sydney Opera house; he performed with the senior men and did a solo dance he calls “an owl dance”.

Reggie has been a long time-member of Mornington Island Dancers and had participated in the first of the painting workshops at Mornington Island Arts & Craft in 2005. His paintings are influenced by totem designs and body paint used in dance.

These designs were passed down to him by his grandfather. As he grew more confident with the medium of acrylic on canvas, his work became increasingly abstract and refined, and his strong linear paintings include those based on the designs of the differing headbands worn for each particular dance.

Now a senior lawman, Reggie paints to maintain traditional responsibilities that have been passed down to him. He has been taught by his grandfather and uncle to only paint stories he has custodial rights over: “My uncle, Larry Gaenor, said to me, ‘You can’t paint like me, you have to paint your own way.’ I used to paint spears, boomerangs and bark paintings. I did this to keep going for law.”

Collections Lagerberg-Swift Collection, Perth, WA, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art

Gallery, Singapore.

2013 Emily Evans & Lardil Artists from Mornington Island Art - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2009 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

2008 A Few Good Men - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

2007 Mornington Island - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA, Australia.

Painting Up Country: New Art from the Mornington and Bentinck Islands KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2006 Muyinda Thaa (Old Men Return) - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Shifting Tides, Moving Sands - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

New Works from Mornington Island - Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Mornington Island Masterpieces - Art Mob, Hobart, TAS, Australia.

2005 Gununa - Grantpirrie Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Jidmaa Thawathu - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Reggie ROBERTSON

Lightning Headband Etching - Edition of 25 100 x 50cm 4804-RR-0909

SGD1,100 (excluding GST)

“This is my headband design for the Lightning Ceremony.”

Available editions: 11/25 12/25 13/25 14/25 15/25

Joyanne WILLIAMS Birth Date Deceased Place of Birth Language Skin/Clan

1974 June 2015 Mornington Island Lardil Lardil

Growing up on Mornington Island, Joyanne Williams spent most of her time out bush fishing and playing on the beach. Wallaby Island and Barrakiah are countries she has custodial rights over, located at the top end of Mornington Island.

She learned to paint from her father and uncle, both whom used to paint out in their backyards. As a young girl, she would sit and watch them paint stories belonging to the Lardil people of Mornington Island. Over time, she began to experiment on her own and now she paints for Mornington Island Arts. Through her paintings, Joyanne shares the stories of her people, stories that were passed down to her.

Collections National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

The Merenda Collection, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 Dibirdibi Country Revisited – Celebrating Mrs. Gabori’s Life - ReDot Fine Art

Gallery, Singapore.

2015 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF), Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

2014 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

BLACK: Aboriginal Art from Australia - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

2013 Emily Evans & Lardil Artists from Mornington Island Art - Alcaston Gallery,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2011 The Heart of Everything - Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

2009 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia (Represented by

Mornington Island Arts & Alcaston Gallery).

Mornington Island Artists – Now - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

2007 Looking Forward, Looking Black - KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Joyanne WILLIAMS

Barramundi Scales Etching - Edition of 25 100 x 50cm 4805-JDW-0909

SGD900 (excluding GST)

“I like to paint the scales of the barramundi, which is my grandmother’s totem.”

Available editions: 3/25 4/25 5/25 6/25 7/25

Mornington Island Artists on Nyinyilki, Bentinck Island

Mornington Island Artists Making Craft Source: Š Photos Courtesy of Mornington Island Art Centre

Left Page: Amy Loogatha Top to Bottom: Ethel Thomas, Amy Loogatha

Mornington Island Artists on Nyinyilki, Bentinck Island

Top: Netta Loogatha with her Fresh Catch Source: Š Photos Courtesy of Mornington Island Art Centre

Artists Enjoying Some Time Off at the Beach From Top to Bottom, Left to Right: Ethel Thomas, Amy Loogatha, Ethel Thomas

Landscape of Nyinyilki, southeast of Bentinck Island Source: Š Photo Courtesy of Mornington Island Art Centre

In collaboration with In conjunction with

In loving memory of Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (c. 1924 – 2015) Thunduyingathi Bijarrb May Moodoonuthi (c. 1929 – 2008) Joyanne Delores Williams (1974 – 2015)

REDOT FINE ART GALLERY Old Hill Street Police Station 140 Hill Street, #01-08 Singapore 179369 +65 6222 1039 • info@redotgallery.com

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