Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori put onto canvas a connection with country that she couldn't explain in words, and now her collection has been put into print, two months after her passing.
"She's painting the clouds, she's painting the storms, she's painting the land on Bentinck Island where she was born and on Mornington Island where she's lived the last 40 years," said art collector Patrick Corrigan.
Mrs Gabori's career as a contemporary artist was short, she only began painting on canvas in her eighties. But in the decade before her death in February this year, she gained international acclaim.
Patrick Corrigan has a large collection of her work, he describes her paintings as powerful and emotive.
"The first time I saw the works I was blown away, that an elderly lady with a few brushes could come up with these stunning pieces."
She was raised in the traditional lifestyle of the Kaiadilt people on Bentinck Island, in Queensland.
Curator and art historian Djon Mundine says Mrs Gabori spoke very little English, and throughout her life maintained a connection to her people who for years were untouched by western influence.
"They lived by fishing and collecting they lived completely naked, exposed to the elements, they had another consciousness that is what comes out here, another connection to nature."
"The first time I saw the works I was blown away, that an elderly lady with a few brushes could come up with these stunning pieces."
In the 1940's, Mrs Gabori was forcibly removed from her country. But Patrick Corrigan said her paintings showed her spirit remained on Bentinck Island.
"Even though they've left that community, there is something in the DNA where the memory is there of where they were 30-40 years ago."
Mrs Gabori's paintings are exhibited around Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Europe.
Djon Mundine says Mrs Gabori was a storyteller, who had a lot to tell.
"She lived a very full life with an enormous number of children and she lives life and that energy comes out in the paintings."
The story of her life and her artworks is now immortalised in print, in a book titled simply Gabori, ensuring her cultural legacy will last a lifetime.
"She lived a very full life with an enormous number of children and she lives life and that energy comes out in the paintings."
