Michelle Possum Nungurrayi / Grandmother’s Country (19232)

Michelle Possum Nungurrayi was born in 1969, the younger daughter of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Emily Nakamarra. She is of the Anmatyerre Tribe and grew up at Mt. Allen & Napperby “in the bush way”. She now resides in Melbourne with her family. Her older sister is Gabriella Possum, who is also a highly sought after artist, represented in major collections within Australia and Internationally. Their late father, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO, is one of Australia’s most celebrated artists. Clifford’s art hangs in major collections and museums worldwide, he presented his art to the Queen, and features in numerous important publications on the Masters of Australian Art.

Michelle has been painting since a very early age, and whilst Clifford taught both his daughters technique, their styles differ considerably.  Michelle’s works are colourful and dramatic in style, depicting the dreaming stories and women’s ceremonial activities of her paternal grandmother Long Rose Nungala, combined with the bold and precise imaging of her father’s works.  Both Michelle and Gabriella joined their father in collaborative works, and carry on the legacy of the grass roots Papunya Tula art and associated cultural content.

Michelle first exhibited with her father and sister in Brisbane in 1987, and at Cooee Gallery in Sydney 1992.  Since that time, she has had huge exposure through Galleries within Australia and overseas.  Her content includes Goanna Dreaming, Bush Coconut, and other bush tucker themes, however she is best known for her beautiful Women’s Dreaming series.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION
• 2022 Connection | Songlines from Australia’s First Peoples in a spectacular immersive experience, National Museum of Australia, Canberra

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
• Aranda Collection, Melbourne
• Knight Family Collection, Melbourne
• Pat Corrigan Collection, Brisbane

BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Johnson, V., 1994, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, NSW (C)

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2023
• Possum Family, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• Lounge Exhibition, Australian Open Tennis tournament, Melbourne

2022
• Connection, National Museum of Australia, Canberra

2020
• Colours of Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• Family Business – The Art of the Possum Family, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• The Continuing Legacy of Clifford Possum: Clifford, Gabriella, Michelle, Coo-ee Art Gallery, Sydney

2019
• Generations II, Mitchelton Gallery of Aboriginal Art, Nagambie VIC
• International Women’s Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• Landscape Colours, Japingka Gallery, Perth

2016
• From the Sand to the Sails | a Possum Family Exhibition

2015
• Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi & Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, Japingka Gallery, Perth

2009
• Michelle Possum, Australia Dreaming Art, Melbourne
• Generations, Aranda Art Gallery, Melbourne

2007
• Shanghai Art Fair, China
• London Art Fair, UK
• Hong Kong Cricket Club

2006
• Shanghai Art Fair, China
• Opening Exhibition, Aranda Art, Alice Springs
• Modern Masters from an Ancient Culture, Aranda Art Alice Springs
• Aboriginal and Oceanic Art Fair, Sydney

2005
• Christmas Show, Australian Contemporary Aboriginal Art
• Aboriginal and Oceanic Art Fair, Sydney

1995
• Desert Dreaming

1987
• Possum Family Paintings, Brisbane

1982
• Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney

In this painting the artist depicts Women’s ceremonial sites surrounding Tjukurla and Yuelamu in the western desert of Central Australia which Michelle inherited from her Ancestral Grandmother, who travelled to this Anmatyerre site in the Tanami Desert during the Dreamtime, at Creation. Ceremonial sites carry a deep spiritual meaning and it is where the women narrate their sacred Aboriginal dreamtime stories, through song lines, dance cycles and body paint. The painting shows the sand hills, fresh water soakages, dried salty swamps and rockholes that are carved into the bedrock and supply drinking water in times of drought. The vegetation includes Spinifex grass, wild bush wheat, honey flowers for sugar bag (native bee honey) as well as the bush tucker which grows underground such as sweet yams.

In general, this painting represents an amalgamation of the present and the past, a continuous comprehensive philosophical summary of the region’s culture through the eyes of an important custodian of the region.