Gary Smith Matjibaralay is an artist from the Maningrida region in Arnhem Land, and belongs to the Djinang language group. As the traditional owner of a place called Gaatchi, near Ramingining, he bears the responsibility of preserving and passing on the stories, laws and land rights tied to this ancestral territory.

Gary draws his inspiration from the tradition of the Mimih spirits elongated, fragile and supernatural beings of the Dreamtime, often represented in sculptures carved from soft wood, then polished and painted with earth‑pigments in rarrk patterns (crosshatches, dots). These sculptures evoke the slender, delicate forms of the Mimih, their dual existence between the spiritual world and the human world, and their mythic role.