Gail Mabo
Gail Mabo
Born 1965 in Gurambilbarra (Townsville), Australia
Lives in Gurambilbarra (Townsville)
Meriam Mir, Mer Island, Torres Strait. Language group: Piadram
Gail Mabo is a Meriam artist from Mer Island in the Torres Strait. Her multidisciplinary practice stretches from dance to visual arts and is always grounded in Indigenous cultural knowledges. Mabo’s star maps, constructed out of bamboo and cotton, demonstrate her people’s complex understanding of celestial navigation and have come to define her artistic practice.
Zenadth Kes, 2018
Tagai, 2018
Mabo Case 1, 2018
Mabo Case 2, 2018
bamboo, twine, seashells
Commissioned 2018 with funds from Thomas Bradley QC through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation
Collection Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Gail Mabo is a Meriam artist from Mer Island in the Torres Strait. Her multidisciplinary practice stretches from dance to visual arts and is always grounded in Indigenous cultural knowledges. Mabo’s star maps, constructed out of bamboo and cotton, demonstrate her people’s complex understanding of celestial navigation, and have come to define her artistic practice.
In the artwork Tagai, this ancestral technology depicts the constellation that Torres Strait Islanders consult to guide them safely through the seas when they travel from one island to another. The movement of the stars also signalled the changing seasons. Tagai takes its shape from the form of a man standing on a canoe holding up a spear, with the Southern Cross contained in his left hand. One of the stars in the Southern Cross was named Koiki in 2015 after Gail Mabo’s father, Eddie Koiki Mabo. This dedication marked the 23rd anniversary of the historic Mabo decision when the High Court of Australia finally overturned the doctrine of terra nullius (meaning nobody’s land).