Sally Gabori (1924-2015) started painting in her early 80s. She channeled the pain and pride of her home island into acrylic masterpieces. In quite a short period, she became one of the most famous Aboriginal artists of her time.
Sally Gabori (1924-2015) started painting in her early 80s. She channeled the pain and pride of her home island into acrylic masterpieces. In quite a short period, she became one of the most famous Aboriginal artists of her time.
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Just a disclaimer for Aboriginal peoples: This episode contains the name of someone who has died.
Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. This is Womanica.
This month, we're highlighting women who've led dynamic lives. Ones that have shifted, evolved and bloomed, often later in life.
Today, we’ll meet a woman who started painting in her early 80s. She channeled the pain and pride of her home island into acrylic masterpieces. In quite a short period, she became one of the most famous Aboriginal artists of her time.
Let’s talk about Sally Gabori.
Sally was born around 1924, in Bentinck Island, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The island is low-lying and flat, with scrubby plants and trees, and sandy beaches. Sea turtles and coral reefs just off the shore. Sally was raised traditionally, in her Kaiadilt community.
She was known for her skills with weaving and making bags. She spoke her native language, Kayardild, and very little English.
The Kaiadilt people had almost no contact with European Australians until the 1940s. In 1948 a combination of drought, tidal surges and storms ruined the fresh water supply. The small, isolated community on Bentinck was forced to leave their homeland. They moved to nearby Mornington Island. A Presbyterian mission there had been trying to get the Kaiadilt to leave Bentinck for years, and they took advantage of this moment. Sally was in her 20s when she had to leave her home.
Once they got to Mornington, Sally’s family was separated. Her children were taken to a mission school, where they lived in a gender-segregated dormitory. It was a traumatizing experience for the community.
The Kaiadilt people didn’t have a strong painting art tradition. But that all changed when Sally’s artistic career began in 2005. She was in her early 80s, and living in a facility for the elderly.
One day, as a part of occupational therapy, she was given a set of acrylic paints and brushes. In this moment, Sally began creating works of art – painting landscapes and stories of the places of her home island. The paintings were brightly colored, full of feeling and energy, more abstract than representative. Sweeping yellows and blues, fuschia ovals and undulating orange. She made large scale works with large brushes.
The art teacher at the center took notice. In no time, Sally became a painter, sought after by collectors.
Part of that intense interest was colonial fetishization – Sally’s story was unique. Because of her old age, she had an air of “cultural authenticity.” That, plus she had little contact with English-speaking settlers. And she seemed to appear out of nowhere – from the perspective of the mostly-white art collectors.
Sally really took to painting. She was incredibly productive, creating up to seven large pieces in just a day. It only took her a year to produce a catalog of hundreds of pieces of art.
Her work was featured in more than 20 exhibitions. She even had solo shows in major galleries. And her art was lauded internationally. In 2013, she was featured at the Venice Biennale.
But Sally had little agency in deciding which pieces made it to exhibits. Other people determined what was good enough to show. The rest was stored in a shipping container, or burned at the local dump.
It’s hard to know how Sally felt about this. Very few people left spoke her native language. Plus, her commercial art success came late in life, when she was already in declining health.
Sally did seem to enjoy painting. And she found joy in her art. At exhibits, she could be found singing and dancing in front of her work.
Sally also sold many of her paintings. But her great talents were exploited. A fact that was unknown until after she died. Years after her death, a manager of the Mornington Island Art Center was sentenced to four and a half years of jail time. And he was ordered to pay more than 400,000 Australian Dollars in reparations to artists, the art center, and the estate of Sally Gabori.
For years, he had been selling Aboriginal artists’ work, and keeping the proceeds that should have gone to the artists. He did this for 176 paintings. Sally had painted 169 of them.
In 2012, Sally stopped painting because of her health. She died in February, 2015.
Sally Gabori’s short time as an artist was incredibly influential. More women from Bentinck Island began painting. They also now use bright acrylics to capture the beauty of their homeland, which they were forced to leave so long ago. Sally’s own daughters, Elsie, Amanda and Dorothy are among them.
All month, we’re highlighting dynamos. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!