Mabo Kara Art
In June 2014 the Australian High Commission in Singapore became the focus of Torres Strait Islander culture, through an exhibition of paintings and prints by Townsville artist Gail Mabo and performance of the Jaran Dancers, celebrating Mabo Day and NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee) Week. The exhibition titled Mabo Kara Art, represents an intensive period of work, over the past nine months, based on the artists travels through Aboriginal country and her Torres Strait connections. The name Mabo has become synonymous with the struggle for land rights and the bond between the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with their land. Gail, the middle daughter of land rights campaigner Eddie Koiki Mabo, articulates her understanding of the natural environment, sharing with us insights, experiences, interpretations and visions of what land and place means for her.
The Australian High Commission Building provides a vast interior space with a cavernous ceiling and grey stone floor. Beyond the atrium, at the rear of the main foyer, is a massive timber lined five metre high wall which provides a natural warm surface amidst the white painted walls and glazed entrance. This space is demanding, and requires careful consideration when installing art. The twenty-nine works in this show provide an overwhelming contrast of colour amidst the sombre earth tones of the High Commission. The radiance of yellow, blue and orange bounce from the wooden panelled walls where a multitude of uniform acrylic canvases cluster in portrait formats, occasionally pairing up as diptychs and even triptychs, filling the almost thirty metre long wall with Mabo’s characteristic landscape style, including layered forms written over the stratified background.
Whilst Gail Mabo began as a dancer
Gail Mabo, Before Time, 2014. Monoprint, 77 x 50cm. Courtesy the artist and Umbrella Studio, Townsville.
Gail Mabo, Clam shell. Linocut print, 70 x 100cm. Courtesy the artist and Umbrella Studio, Townsville.
