Sally Gabori
Sally Gabori | Kaiadilt people | Australia b.c.1924 | Dibirdibi Country 2008 | Synthetic polymer paint on linen | Purchased 2008 with funds from Margaret Mittelheuser, AM, and Cathryn Mittelheuser, AM, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | © Sally Gabori, 2008 | Licensed by VISCOPY, Sydney 2011
Across Country: Five Years of Indigenous Australian Art from the Collection | 5 November 2011 — 21 October 2012 | GOMA | Free admission
In this majestic work, Sally Gabori represents a tract of her country, Kabararrji, on Bentinck Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. She calls this painting Dibirdibi Country in memory of her late husband Pat, whose traditional name was Dibirdibi. As Gabori explains, ‘This is my husband's country on Bentinck Island. Its real name is Kabararrji but I call it after his language name’. The name Dibirdibi also relates to the Rock Cod ancestor and Dreaming. Gabori’s husband held this name as custodian of the stories and land. The maintenance of this area has now fallen to Gabori through marriage. The painting tells the stories of these places, but more importantly for Gabori, it brings her closer to her late husband through recalling the country that they held so dear.
