Mabel Juli

Gija artist Mabel Juli was born circa 1931 in Barlinyin, East Kimberley, Western Australia. Juli began her practice in the 1980s alongside senior Warmun artists Queenie McKenzie and Madigan Thomas, who championed the use of natural pigments and the mixing of ochres in their palettes. Juli’s own palette has broadened to include greens, purples and pinks, as well as hand-collected black and white ochre (mawandu in Gija language). Her paintings illustrate the experience of early colonial encounters in Darrajayin country - now the Springvale Station - contemporary perspectives in the local landscape, and the complex stories of Ngarranggarni (dreamings); a fundamental concept that links Gija culture, language, place, social organisation and kinship.

Mabel Juli is a senior artist at the Warmun Art Centre, and was awarded the celebrated Kate Challis RAKA award in 2013. Her work is held in all major public collections in Australia, and the Chartwell Collection at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.