Meet Mary
Mary Gibson is a senior Tjukurla artist and a central figure at Tjarlirli Art. Her paintings are calm, strong and full of Country – the kind of work that asks you to slow down and look properly.
Mary was born bush way at Kuluwarri, deep in the Western Desert. As a child and teenager, she lived at Kurlkurta with her large family, surrounded by the places, foods, stories and pathways that continue to shape her paintings today.
Country, family and story
Mary has walked and travelled across the Western Desert for much of her life. As a young woman, she and her family walked to Papunya after hearing that many people had moved there. Later, with her children, she returned to Kulkurta and travelled regularly across Country, including to Tjarlirli Rockhole long before Tjukurla community was established.
Mary moved to Tjukurla when it was first established as an outstation from Docker River in 1989. She remembers the early building of the community and was one of the first artists to paint at Tjarlirli Art when the art centre opened in 2006.
Today, she remains a strong presence across Tjukurla and Docker River – painting, travelling, hunting and sharing her deep knowledge of the Country she has known all her life.
She's always the first out of the car on any bush trip, collecting bush foods or digging for tinka in their burrows.
The way Mary paints
Mary’s paintings are quiet, but they are not simple. They hold sandhills, hills, rocks and rockholes – the important features of Country that she knows through walking, hunting and memory. As Mary says:
“I paint the sandhills, hills, rocks and the two little rockholes there, not big ones, little ones.”
Her way of painting is gentle and intuitive. Where Bob Gibson’s paintings rush and jump with fast energy, Mary’s works move differently. They are more pared back, with space to breathe. Her lines and forms trace the key features of Country, almost like following tracks across the sand.
Bob & Mary exhibition essay describes this beautifully:
"what seems at first to be random meandering is in fact deep attunement to the signals of the land." - Riley McPherson
That is the strength of Mary’s work. It does not need to shout. It knows where it is going.
Why her work matters
Mary is one of Tjarlirli Art’s most important artists. Her work carries the memory of Country, the story of Tjukurla’s beginnings, and the living knowledge of a senior woman who has moved across this region all her life.
Her paintings have been included in exhibitions including Bob and Mary at Vivien Anderson Gallery, The Women's Show, Desert Mob Exhibition, and Minyma Mankurrpa (Three Women),.
Her work is also listed in collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art and Flinders University Collection.
Buying Mary’s work supports Mary directly and helps keep Tjarlirli and Kaltukatjara Art strong for artists, families and community.
