Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori
c.1924 - 2015
Sally Gabori; Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda
Region: Gulf of Carpentaria
Community: Bentinck Island
Language: Kayardild
Art Centre: Mornington Island Arts and Craft Centre
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, born around 1924, emerged as a celebrated Kaiadilt artist with a distinct and powerful visual language. Sally Gabori’s tribal name is Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda. Juwarnda means ‘dolphin’, which is her totemic sign, and Mirdidingkingathi means ‘born at Mirdidingki’, in her country on the south side of Bentinck Island. The English name Gabori comes from her husband Pat Gabori, and is a corruption of his birthplace name, Kabararrjingathi.
PROFILE
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori
c.1924 - 2015
Region: Gulf of Carpentaria
Community: Bentinck Island
Language: Kayardild
Art Centre: Mornington Island Arts and Craft Centre
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, born around 1924, emerged as a celebrated Kaiadilt artist with a distinct and powerful visual language. Sally Gabori’s tribal name is Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda. Juwarnda means ‘dolphin’, which is her totemic sign, and Mirdidingkingathi means ‘born at Mirdidingki’, in her country on the south side of Bentinck Island. The English name Gabori comes from her husband Pat Gabori, and is a corruption of his birthplace name, Kabararrjingathi.
She grew up on Bentinck Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, a place deeply connected to her people, the Kaiadilt, who lived entirely within their traditional ways, untouched by external influence. Her life revolved around gathering food, maintaining stone fish traps, and crafting with natural materials, skills that sustained her community for generations. Her first significant contact with outsiders didn’t come until she was around twenty, when she and her people were forcibly relocated to Mornington Island following a devastating cyclone and drought, severing their direct connection to their homeland.
Although she spent much of her life immersed in traditional crafts—such as making hibiscus bark string and weaving dilly bags—it wasn’t until her early eighties that she began painting, initially encouraged by the Mornington Island Art Centre in 2005. According to Simon Turner, Director of Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Sally Gabori’s journey into painting began with a simple question: would she like to try painting? By that same afternoon, a vibrant, primary-coloured painting hung on the wall. When fellow artist Melville Escott saw it, he immediately recognised the story within. “That’s pretty good,” he said. “You can see the river, the sand bar, and the ripples the fish leave on the water. This side is her brother King Alfred’s country, and these,” pointing to thick oval shapes, “are the fish traps she used to look after.”
Sally’s work is not just art—it is a dialogue, a new language born from her connection to the land and sea off her Kaiadilt heritage. Her paintings became her way of returning home, both in spirit and memory, capturing the essence of her beloved McKenzie River, her grandfather’s land, her brother’s country, and the rich, teeming life of the sea. Fish traps, tidal lagoons, hunting grounds—Sally’s paintings reflect the world she knew intimately but was rarely seen beyond her community.
Her relationship with acrylic paint became a daily ritual, the only thing standing in her way being the art centre’s weekend closure. Sally didn’t just tell her story—she painted it. Through her work, she brought the unseen and the untold to life, creating a visual language that speaks of place, memory, and the deep bond she had with her country. Her paintings, bold in colour and form, are visual records of her ancestral lands: from the McKenzie River and her brother King Alfred’s country to the tidal lagoons and fish traps she once tended. Sally’s work, rich with geographic and cultural knowledge, stands as an archive of Kaiadilt life, honoring her family, country, and the vibrant marine life surrounding Bentinck Island.
Sally’s art grew from a personal narrative and a profound knowledge of her land, translated onto canvas. Each piece captures the sacred sites, history, and stories that form her identity, blending memories with vivid colors and dynamic forms. Her untrained yet visionary approach challenges Western notions of abstraction; her landscapes dissolve the square edges of the canvas, letting the natural contours of her homeland guide each composition. In doing so, Sally reshapes how we see and understand Australian Indigenous art, offering an intimate glimpse into a world known and felt by only a few.
Her work stands as both a cultural document and an artistic triumph, embodying the wisdom of her heritage and her new role as a storyteller through art. Sally’s legacy is not only her contribution to contemporary Indigenous art but also the vibrant, enduring voice of her Kaiadilt heritage, preserved on canvas for generations to come.
ARTIST CV
Selected Collections:
Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Musee du Quai Branly, Paris
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Selected Solo Exhibition:
2022 - Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
2016 - Sally Gabori, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisban, Qld.
2014 - Sally Gabori, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2011 - Ngumuwa Kinyint - dark shapes, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2011 - Kalka dulk - bright country, Alcaston Gallery, at the Depot Gallery, Sydney.
2010 - Makarrki - My Big Brother, King Alfred's Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Mundamurra ngijinda dulk: My Island Home, The Gallery, Cork Street, Mayfair, London, UK.
2009 - Sally Gabori, Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT.
2008 - Sally Gabori - Dulka Warngiid, Land of All, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2007 - Sally Gabori Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda - Dibirdibi Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2005 - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Qld.
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2019 - Women in Colour including Andrea Adamson, Teresa Baker, Patricia Tunkin Baker, Karla Dickens, Sally Gabori, Athena Nangala Granites, Maggie Green, Nungarrayi Myra Herbert, Jennifer Ingkatji, Langaliki Lewis, Minma Marlilu , Jorna Newberry, Poly Ngal, Kathleen Ngale , Charmaine Pwerle, Kitty Napanangka Simon, Kalaya Tjukurrpa, Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty, Liddy Walker at Cooee Art, Sydney.
2016 - Cooee Art at Australian Galleries, featuring Albert Namatjira, Alma Webou, Bill Whisky Tjapaltjarri, Daniel Walbidi, Djirrirra Wunungmurra, Dorothy Napangardi, Elizabeth Nyumi, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Emily Kngwarreye, Freddie Timms, George Hairbrush Tjungurrayi, Gloria Petyarre, Jan Billycan, John Mawurndjul , Johnny Warangkula, Kathleen Petyarre, Makinti Napanangka, Milliga Napaltjarri, Minnie Pwerle, Naata Nungurrayi, Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa (Mrs Bennett), Owen Yalandja, Prince of Wales , Queenie Nakarra McKenzie , Rover Thomas, Sally Gabori , Suzie Bootja Bootja, Timothy Cook , Tjapartji Bates, Tommy Watson, Trevor Nickolls , Yirawala, at Australian Galleries, Sydney.
2015 - Indigenous Art: Moving Backwards into the Future, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
2013 - My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane.
2013 - Personal Structures, part of the Venice Biennale at the Palazzo Bembo, Rialto Bridge, Grand Canal, Venice, Italy.
2012 - Ngamathungarrba Marraanjuthu Dulku - Mother and daughters teach each other about country featuring Sally gabori, Amanda Gabori and Elsie Gabori, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2012 - Artist Profile at Depot Gallery, featuring the work of Emily Evans, Sally Gabori, Clinton Nain, Womikinimirri Puruntatameri, Cornelia Tipuamantumirri, at Alcaston Gallery, at the Depot Gallery, Sydney.
2012 - Artists from Bentinck and Mornington Island, featuring the work of Emily Evans, Sally Gabori, Amanda Gabori, Helena Gabori, Dolly Loogatha, Amy Loogatha, Paula Paul, Ethel Thomas, at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2012 - National Indigenous Art Triennial: unDisclosed, featuring the work of Vernon Ah Kee, Michael Cook, Julie Gough, Danie Mellor, Alick TipotiTony Albert, Nici Clumpston, Lindsay Harris, Naata Nungurray, Daniel Walbidi, Bob Burruwal, Fiona Foley, Jonathan Jones, Maria Orsto, Lena Yarinkura, Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Gunybi Ganambarr, Sally Gabori, Christian Thompson, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
2012 - All about art, featuring Sally Gabori, Linsday Harris, Garry Lee, and Gulumbu Yunupingu at The Depot Gallery, Alcaston Gallery, Sydney.
2012 - The Bright The Bold & The Beautiful Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney, featuring the work of Sally Gabori, Rosella Namok, Emily Kngwarreye, Gloria Petyarre, Eubena Nampitjin, Lorna Fencer Naparrula, Maggie Napangardi Watson, Christine Yukenbarri and Minnie Pwerle.
2011 - Artists from Mornington Island - recent works, featuring Verita Chong, Kelly Marie Chong, Sally Gabori, Amanda Gabori, Elsie Gabori, Netta Loogatha, Dolly Loogatha, Paula Paul, Ethel Thomas, Nancy Wilson at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2010 - Emerging Elders, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Ngamathungarrba bakiinda mirrayalath � Mother and daughters making things together, Alcaston Gallery, Danks Street, Sydney.
2009 - Bentinck Island Artists - New paintings and prints, featuring Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Thunduyingathui Bangaa Dolly Loogatha and Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2009 - The Island Story - a moment in the sun, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Korean International Art Fair and the Art London 2009 art fairs.
2008 - Optimisim, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery; Bandikawaanda makuwalada rarunginja thaand - Return of Kaiadilt Women, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Land, Sea and the Universe, Alcaston Gallery @ the 2008 Melbourne Art Fair, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne; Paintings from remote communities: Indigenous Australian art from the Laverty collection, Newcastle Regional Gallery, Newcastle, NSW; Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards (2008), Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
2007 - Bentinck Island Artists featuring Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Togart Contemporary Art Award, Parliament House, Darwin.
2006 - Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award Artists, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Sally Gabori and introducing The Bentinck Island Art Gang, GrantPirrie, Sydney.
2005 - Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Qld.
Bibliography:
The Bentinck Project, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Qld, 2006.
Webb, Penny, Making art out of alife time's stories, The Age, Melbourne, p.27, 20/1/2007.
Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2006.
McLean, B., Contemporary Australia: Optimism, cat., Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2008.
MARKET ANALYSIS
Sally Gabori's market journey from 2008 to 2024 demonstrates a remarkable growth in both demand and value, reflecting her increasing prominence in the art world. When her works were first offered , in 2008, Gabori's work had an 80% clearance rate, totaling A$17,346 from four sold works.
Over the next few years, she maintained this strong market demand with high clearance rates, consistently selling around 70–80% of her works in each year. By 2011, Gabori achieved her first 100% clearance rate, with six works sold for a total of A$111,920, signaling heightened collector interest and confidence in her unique artistic voice. Following Sally Gabori's passing in 2015, the market for her artworks began to display a pattern of steady growth, reflecting both a growing recognition of her work and increasing demand in auction sales.
In 2016, the first year after her death, Gabori's works saw a total sales value of A$142,125, a modest figure that indicated an early interest. By 2017, sales had slightly increased to A$166,185, suggesting gradual momentum in the posthumous market. The upward trend continued in 2018 with a total sales value of A$183,674, showing the market’s increasing regard for Gabori’s work as more collectors began to acquire her pieces.
The year 2019 marked a more notable shift, with Gabori’s total auction sales value rising to A$255,310 and clearance rate to 100%, reflecting heightened collector interest and a broader acknowledgment of her artistic significance. This was followed by a substantial jump in 2020 to A$420,964, likely driven by expanding international attention and an intensified market demand for high-quality Indigenous Australian art. Her high clearance rate remained relatively consistent, with minor fluctuations around 70–75% in certain years, likely influenced by the availability of more works rather than a dip in demand.
The financial trajectory of Gabori's work also reveals exponential growth. Her annual sales total increased from A$17,346 in 2008 to an astonishing A$1,209,136 in 2023 with the record 25 works offered, underscoring her significance in the market. This substantial increase reflects her enlarged international presence with the 2022 exhibition at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris. Sally Gabori's 2008 works, Big River at Thundi and Thundi-Barramundi Story, achieved record prices at a Sotheby’s auction in New York on May 23, 2023, reflecting her exceptional standing in the art market.
The monumental Big River at Thundi, a strikingly large painting (197 x 304 cm) sold for USD $190,500 (A$286,569). Thundi-Barramundi Story, a smaller acrylic on canvas (121 x 91 cm) sold for USD $32,000 (A$61,135), demonstrating strong interest in her medium-sized works as well. Sally Gabori’s Ninjilki (2008) set an extraordinary record at the Australian market, achieving an impressive A$251,591 at Deutscher and Hackett auction in March 2023, well beyond its initial estimate of A$60,000–80,000. This sale marked a significant moment for the artist’s market, as this monumental work, measuring nearly 3 meters wide, captivated collectors with its scale, depth, and vibrant representation of the landscapes tied to Gabori’s heritage on Mornington Island.
The demand-driven, record-breaking result for Ninjilki not only emphasizes Gabori's growing status in the contemporary art world but also cements her place as one of Australia’s most prominent Indigenous artists. This price point not only reflects the market's increasing appreciation for large-scale pieces by Gabori but also sets a new benchmark for her work, illustrating her rising profile among both local and international collectors.
These sales affirm Gabori’s international appeal and the strong demand for her work, which expertly intertwines storytelling, identity, and place, and they underscore her importance within the Indigenous art market and beyond.
Gabori’s market presence has continued to strengthen, with her works now seen as valuable cultural investments with significant growth potential. Her high clearance rates and record-setting sales totals in recent years highlight her status as a key figure in contemporary Indigenous art and suggest a future of sustained demand and appreciation.
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