Gail Mabo’s works represent Indigenous identity in contemporary ways, in particular the relationship Meriam people have with land, sea, and sky. Her practice is informed by her connection to her father Eddie Mabo, whose role in the court case Mabo and Others versus Queensland (No. 2) resulted in the recognition of Indigenous rights to land, negating the idea that Australia was ‘unclaimed’ at the time of British settlement. This decision was in part based on the High Court’s finding that existing Indigenous laws were grounds for native title rights. The perpetuation of these customs underlies Mabo’s work, as her practice concerns the transmission of cultural knowledge from one generation to the next. Exhibited in Musafiri: Of Travellers and Guests is a continuation of the artist’s star charts series entitled Tagai (2017/2020/2021/2022), referring to the constellation of stars named for this creation deity. It takes the form of a man standing on a canoe—his left hand holds a spear, which points the way south for Torres Strait Islander people navigating between the islands. The constellation’s position in the southern hemisphere’s sky means that it is also used to indicate when seasons of planting, harvesting, and hunting should begin. To track its movement, a technology of navigational maps in the region was developed using bamboo, string, and shells, layered in specific formations to mark specific routes or cues for orientation and etched with lines to indicate the ocean’s currents. In Mabo’s work, she uses bamboo sourced from a grove that she planted together with her father when he was employed from 1967–81 as a groundsman at James Cook University in Bindal and Wulgurukaba Country (Townsville, Queensland). These four new star maps use bamboo harvested from a recent crop in 2024.

Commissioned by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), co-produced by Gail Mabo and HKW, 2024–25

Works in the exhibition: Tagai (2024–25), bamboo, twine, and shell, 60 × 60 cm; Mabo Case 1 (2024–25), bamboo, twine, and shell, 60 × 60 cm; Mabo Case 2 (2024–25), bamboo, twine, and shell, 60 × 60 cm; Zenadth Kes (2024–25), bamboo, twine, and shell, 60 × 60 cm. Courtesy of the artist