Bentinck Island Artists

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Image: Detail from Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul, My Country 2009, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 200 x 300 cm.

POSTED: 05 SEPTEMBER 2009

Vibrant, exciting work from the fishing women of Bentinck Island*

Melbourne’s Alcaston Gallery will present a vibrant and exciting exhibition by the Bentinck Island artists of new paintings and prints that have been recently editioned at Northern Editions, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory.

The exhibition, which will run from 15 September to 10 October, is presented in conjunction with Mornington Island Arts, Queensland, and will feature new work by Bentinck Island Artists, including Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Thunduyingathui Bangaa Dolly Loogatha and Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha.

Mornington Island Arts is situated on Mornington Island, in the south-east corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland.

Mornington Island is approximately 60 kilometres long and 20 kilometres wide.

In 2005 this remarkable group of women, including Sally Gabori, came together from Bentinck Island, the largest of a small group of islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria, to paint their stories at Mornington Island Arts.

Since then these artists have earned considerable acclaim both nationally and internationally, and continue to surprise and delight with their colour and energy.

Today, many of the artists in this exhibition divide their time between hunting and fishing on Bentinck Island and ‘painting up big’ for Mornington Island Arts.

Whilst their works could be read as abstraction, they are in fact complex depictions of country and ancestral stories imbued with contemporary spirit and a unique freshness.

Alcaston Gallery is located at 11 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

*Based on media release issued by Alcaston Gallery.

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