Mabel Juli
Gija language group
Australia b.c.1933
Marranyji and Dinal 2004
Natural pigments on canvas
140 x 220cm
Purchased 2005 with funds from Dr Cathryn J. Mittelheuser, AM through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
© Mabel Juli, 2004. Licensed by VISCOPY, Sydney 2005.

Mabel Juli

Marranyji and Dinal 2004

Mabel Juli was born in the Kimberley region of Western Australia at Five Mile, near Moola Boola Station. She now lives and works at Warmun, an Aboriginal settlement near Turkey Creek, in Western Australia. Mabel Juli is well versed in the law and culture of her Gija people, which she sustains through ceremonial singing and dancing.

Her work — using pared-back designs alluding to her rich experience of the sparse desert environment where she lives — displays a rare strength and confidence. This dedication to process is evident in Juli’s use of natural ochres, which are sourced from remote locations and then finely pounded into a unique range of powdered colours. The artist’s distinctive work uses minimalist forms, which sit in large fields of seductive colour; these beautiful surfaces are achieved through the application of up to six layers of pigment.

Marranyji and Dinal 2004 depicts in abstract imagery the events of a simple narrative: an old woman is searching for her dog which was chasing a kangaroo. The dog follows the kangaroo into a water-filled cave; the surrounding black border indicates that the grass has been recently burnt.