Tjukurpa: Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi

For our XXXVIII Songlines Season, the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery is thrilled to present the work of contemporary Indigenous Australian artist Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi. Her practice continues to honour her Anmatyerrers after the gallery first exhibited her father, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, a central figure in the pioneering Papunya painting movement of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri travelled to London for his exhibition at the gallery, where Rebecca Hossack first introduced his work to British audiences, marking a pivotal moment in its international recognition.

 

The exhibition of Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi’s work represents both a continuation of this legacy and a celebration of an enduring relationship. Her paintings are rooted in the rich visual language of Indigenous Australian storytelling and her Anmatyerre heritage, offering insight into ancestral knowledge and cultural continuity. Rich in colour, pattern, and symbolism, her paintings map sacred sites, songlines, and narratives that express deep connections between land, culture, and kinship.

 

This exhibition will present works exploring Grandmother’s Country and Seven Sisters, themes for which Gabriella is particularly renowned. The works are rooted in the Dreaming stories Gabriella Possum inherited from her paternal grandmother, Long Rose Nungala, and other senior women who mentored her during her formative years. In her My Grandmother’s Country works, Gabriella uses pinks, mauves, and burnt red tones to depict iconography that reflects how people lived on and used the land as a rich resource for food and medicinal plants.

 

The exhibition also includes works that depict the Seven Sisters Dreaming story, widely told by Aboriginal communities across Australia, where a luminous band of light crosses the canvas against deep blue and violet skies. The Seven Sisters are associated with the Pleiades, a cluster of stars visible in the night sky, representing seven ancestral women. In the narrative, the sisters travel across the land while being pursued by a man — often a trickster. As they flee, they create landscapes and sacred sites, before ultimately rising into the sky to become the Pleiades. This story carries profound cultural significance, embodying women’s knowledge and law and the enduring connection between sky and land.

 

Born in Alice Springs, Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi is a world-renowned Anmatyerre artist currently working in Melbourne. Her work has been exhibited widely across Australia and internationally, and she has undertaken several major public commissions, including a work presented to Queen Elizabeth II at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2008. She has also contributed to significant public projects such as the Vivid Projection Programme at the Sydney Opera House in 2016, and her design featured on an Art Tram during the 2014 Melbourne Festival. Her work is held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the Royal Collection of HRH Queen Elizabeth II in the United Kingdom. Her practice continues to honour her Anmatyerre heritage while engaging new audiences with the strength and beauty of Western Desert storytelling.