Sally Gabori

"This is my land, this is my sea, this is who I am."
Sally Gabori

Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (born 1924 on Bentinck Island/Australia; died 2015, Mornington Island/Australia) was a Kaiadilt woman. Sally Gabori began painting in 2005, at over eighty years of age. Her paintings, although abstract in appearance, are as much topographical references as they are stories with a deep signification for her, her family, and her people. Her paintings, although abstract in appearance, are as much topographical references as they are stories with a deep signification for her, her family, and her people. They are a celebration of different places on her native island, some of which Sally Gabori and members of her family linked to these places through their names, did not visit for almost forty years. The places she paints are also associated with the political struggle for the recognition of Kaiadilt land rights. (Extrait exhibition text: Mirdingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2022)