Biography

Jessiah Gibson is originally from Maningrida in Arnhem Land and represents Mimih spirits through his sculptures. The Mimih spirits hold a central place in the mythology, culture, and art of the Aboriginal people of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia. They are air-dwelling deities that inhabit rocks or caves. According to tradition, these spirits taught the first humans how to survive in the rocky landscape of the Arnhem Land plateau. The Mimih are also said to have shown them how to hunt and butcher game, as well as how to dance, sing, and paint. The “minimalist” way in which the facial features of the sculptures are painted also evokes the ceremonial masks used by initiates to honour the Mimih spirits. 

The same is true of the motifs painted with natural pigments (regional ochres) mixed with a binder, which adorn the spirits’ disproportionately elongated bodies. These designs may consist of dot patterns or cross-hatching known as rarrk, which Aboriginal people still paint on their bodies today during sacred ceremonies. By reproducing these motifs on the sculpture, the artist highlights its sacred dimension, symbolically investing it with the powers of the deity represented. Here, as is almost always the case in Aboriginal art, the sacred and the aesthetic are inseparable.