- Artist: Mabel Juli
- Art Centre: Warmun Art Centre
- Region: Kimberly
Artwork Story
Mabel Juli (bush name Wiringgoon) was born at Five Mile, near Moola Boola Station (south of Warmun), and was taken as a baby to Springvale Station, her mother’s country. She started work on the station as a little girl, and as a young woman moved to Bedford Downs Station and Bow River Station to work. Juli’s mother is Mary Peters. Juli is one of seven children – six boys and one girl, Mabel. There are only three of the children alive today: Mabel, Rammel and Rusty. Rusty Peters is also an accomplished artist working at Jirrawun Arts in Wyndham. When Juli was a young girl, she left Springvale Station to be with her promised husband. Together they moved to different cattle stations in the Kimberley, including Bow River and Bedford Downs. Mabel and her husband had six children.
Mabel Juli is a senior Warmun artist. She is a strong Law and Culture woman and an important ceremonial singer and dancer. Juli started painting in the 1980s, at the same time as well-known Warmun artists Queenie McKenzie and Madigan Thomas. The women used to watch Rover Thomas paint and one day he said to them, ‘You try yourself, you might make good painting yourself’. Juli says, ‘I started thinking about my country, I give it a try’. Juli is a dedicated, innovative artist who continues to work in natural earth pigments on canvas. She primarily paints the Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) stories of her country Darrajayin (also spelt Tarrajayan), which is covered largely by Springvale Station.
‘I started painting when the old girl [Queenie McKenzie] was here – she was the one who taught me to paint. She told me, ‘You try that painting’, and I started to paint. I was doing that Karnkiny [Moon Dreaming]; that’s the painting I started with – because my mother and father told me that Ngarrangkarni [Dreamtime] story. I was reminded of all those stories from my mum and dad – like Glingennayn Hill and the Old Woman Singing Out for Her Dog. Those stories come from my country [Springvale – south of Warmun]. ‘They used to take me out bush when I was a little girl – good size – and they told me all about those Dreamtime stories. And I always remember those stories. I got ’em in my brain.’ Mabel Juli.