The Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery has had a profound influence on the promotion of Indigenous Australian art, and its 38th Songlines season carries a sense of continuation and survival. Gabriella Possum Nungurrayie4 is the eldest daughter of the renowned painter Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, and both the exhibition title and this familial connection are important. Named Tjukurpa (pronounced ‘chook-orr-pa’), the concept is often referred to as ‘the Dreamtime’; it constitutes a core system of beliefs for the Indigenous inhabitants of the Western Desert region of Australia, one encompassing their religion, law, and way of life. As the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park’s cultural authority describes it, Tjukurpa ‘describes the creation era when ancestral beings shaped the landscape, established moral codes, and interconnected all living things’ (Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park 2024).
