Sally Gabori

Description

In July 2022, the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain will present the first exhibition of the work of Australian Indigenous artist Sally Gabori in France. Sally Gabori started painting at the age of 81 and produced over 3,000 paintings over the 10 years that her career lasted. Through a selection of thirty paintings, including remarkable large format works that punctuated her artistic output, and thanks to exceptional artwork loans from major Australian museums, the exhibition invites to discover the singular and colorful work of this extraordinary painter, who is one of the leading Australian artists of the last decade. Gathering the works of the exhibition alongside other paintings by the artist, the exhibition catalogue invites to further discover Sally Gabori's work, deeply rooted in the history of her people, the Kaiadilt, and attesting to an extraordinary pictorial modernity. Contributions by Nicholas Evans- specialist of the Kaiadilt culture and close to Sally Gabori's family; Judith Ryan and Bruce McLean - curators of Indigenous - put in perspective traditions and artistic practices to tell the story of Sally Gabori, the strength of her art, and the substantial cultural legacy she left.

Sally Gabori (c. 1924-2015) was born on Bentinck Island, a small island of the Gulf of Carpentaria, off northwestern Queensland, in northern Australia, where her people, the Kaiadilt, lived a traditional life. In 1948, the Kaiadilt residents were evacuated to a Presbyterian mission on Mornington Island. In 2005, an art and craft center opened on Mornington. Sally Gabori, then aged 81, started attending its painting workshops, which would finally prove to be an epiphany. During her short career, she created about 3,000 paintings, from small to very large-scale canvases, some of which are part of major Australian institutions' collections.