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Sally Gabori, Thundi, 2010. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 196 × 302 cm. Private collection, Melbourne, Australia. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong
Her father’s Country around Thundi, and her brother King Alfred’s Country around the mouth of the Makarrki river in the north of the island, feature frequently as themes in her paintings. Nicholas Evans, “The Eye of the Dolphin: Sally Gabori and the Kaiadilt Vision”, in Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori. Publication Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 2022.
Sally Gabori, Thundi, 2010. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 196 × 300 cm. Private collection, Melbourne, Australia. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong
By working fleetingly and impetuously, alla prima (wet on wet) before the underlayer has completely dried, Sally Gabori enabled colours and tonalities to shift and transform and created subtle paler and darker nuances and transparency of one colour within the white brushstrokes on the surface. The swiftness of her method is critical to tonal explorations of colour such as in Thundi (2008), suffused with brushstrokes of various intensities of pink and white, and utterly free of any correspondence to figuration or ethnographic precepts. Judith Ryan, "Unprecedented: The Art of Sally Gabori", in Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori. Publication Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 2022.
Sally Gabori, Thundi, 2008. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 198 × 304 cm. Private collection, Adelaide, Australia. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong
Detail of Sally Gabori, Thundi, 2010. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 196 × 151 cm. Private collection, Perth, Australia / Bartram/O’Neill. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Henry Whitehead.
Sally Gabori, Thundi, 2012. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 151 × 196 cm. Annabel Rupert Myer Collection, Melbourne, Australia. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong
Other works about Thundi were completed entirely in brushstrokes, or were similarly overpainted in white, evoking the ripple patterns on the sand flats, the frothing water at the river mouth, small waves lapping on the beach or the complete inundation of the area during extreme weather. Bruce Johnson McLean, "Dulka Warngiid: The Whole world" in Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori. Publication Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 2022
Sally Gabori, Thundi, 2012. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 151 × 196 cm. Annabel Rupert Myer Collection, Melbourne, Australia. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong
Sally Gabori painting Dibirdibi Country. Art & Craft Center, Mornington Island, 2009 Video 48’08’’ © The Estate of Sally Gabori. Video © Inge Cooper
Sally Gabori painting Thundi - Big River Art & Craft Center, Mornington Island, 2008. Photo © Inge Cooper
Detail of Sally Gabori, Nyinyilki, 2010. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 196 × 300 cm. Private collection, Melbourne, Australia. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong
Sally Gabori, Amanda Gabori and Elsie Gabori, Pat and Sally’s Country, 2011. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 198 × 305 cm. Patricia Roberts, Melbourne, Australia. © Estate Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong.
Sally Gabori, Dibirdibi Country, 2011. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 198 × 455 cm. Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Australia. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong
Sally Gabori, Nyinyilki, 2011. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 196 × 301 cm. Bendigo Art Gallery Collection, purchased 2016. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Simon Strong
Detail, Sally Gabori painting. Art & Craft Center, Mornington Island, 2008. Photo © Inge Cooper
Sally Gabori, Thundi, 2011. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 196 × 455 cm. Private collection, Brisbane, Australia. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Tom MacDonald
Sally Gabori, Thundi, 2010. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 196 × 151 cm. Private collection, Perth, Australia / Bartram/O’Neill. © The Estate of Sally Gabori / Adagp, Paris, 2022. Photo © Henry Whitehead.
Presentation of the exhibition "Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori - Thundi" at the Fondation Cartier by Juliette Lecorne, curator of the exhibition. Video © Lumento
The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain wishes to advise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander comunities that this site contains images and names of deceased Aboriginal people.
All images on this site are the property of the Estate of Sally Gabori and the Kaiadilt community.
Any use without their permission is prohibited.