Dibirdibi Country 

Curator: This vibrant canvas is "Dibirdibi Country." Editor: My goodness, it's strikingly bold! Such an immediacy to the brushstrokes, particularly that fierce red juxtaposed against the softer pinks. It’s really visceral. Curator: It certainly is. This piece employs acrylic paint to convey, well, a landscape, yet rendered in a deeply personal, almost abstract manner. What I find interesting is thinking about Gabori’s approach, what processes allowed for translating place into such simplified yet suggestive form. Editor: Thinking about that interplay between the personal and place… Do we know what “Dibirdibi” refers to and its potential cultural significance, maybe within the Indigenous Americas context? Curator: Gabori's paintings often map her homeland, and these colors, the stark divisions, translate the unique contours of Bentinck Island after she was forcibly moved from the island by missionaries along with other Kaiadilt people. Looking at this and other Gabori paintings together really contextualizes how important the act of painting was for maintaining this cultural record that she helped keep alive and share through a mainstream channel. Editor: It becomes much more complex when you consider forced removal and resilience as inherent to the artwork's history, particularly her career which began much later in her life. Were her pieces commonly exhibited? Did she have agency over representation and interpretation? Curator: She gained rapid recognition, and it highlights an interesting problem we deal with in museums that deal with works from marginalized people because we want to show them respectfully and responsibly to diverse audiences. Editor: Absolutely, the institutional responsibility. How does a museum ensure respectful handling and contextualization, when dealing with such works. What are your thoughts? Curator: Thinking through how exhibition and outreach activities, for example community talks, really shapes an ongoing relationship and encourages participation to make such historical moments alive again, you know? Editor: So, these abstract planes aren't just formal exercises in color and texture but function as powerful assertions of cultural presence and a commentary on the political dimensions of art within broader society. Curator: Exactly, looking at materiality is one key for unlocking how process plays such a critical role and acts as the foundation of contemporary practices of many kinds. Editor: I hadn't considered the art within the circumstances.