Michelle Possum Nungurrayi

Date of Birth

1970

Place of Birth

Mt. Allan, Northern Territory

Language

Anmatyerre

Community

Alice Springs, Northern Territory

About

Anmatyerre artist Michelle Possum Nungurrayi was born in 1970 at Mt Allan, a station community about 250 kms to the north west of Alice Springs. Michelle comes from a well-established artistic family. She is the younger sister of artist Gabriella Possum and their father, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1932-2002), was one of the founding figures of the Desert Art movement at Papunya.

Michelle, along with her sister Gabriella and brother Lionel, was taught to paint by her famous father. Michelle began painting at an early age and produced her first canvases while still a teenager in the mid 1980s.

Themes in Art

The Dreamings that Michelle Possum paints come from Yuelamu on her home country at Mt Allan. These include the stories of Seven Sisters Dreaming, Bush Tucker stories including Seed Dreaming, Bush Coconut, Fire Dreaming, Goanna Dreaming, and Grandmother’s Country, many of which she combines together in complex interwoven designs.

Mainly depicting the overview of maps of traditional Country from her family lands, Michelle describes the many important cultural sites she knows well. Her paintings have gained wide popularity partly due to the fact that as we come to understand the iconography, the paintings make fascinating narratives for a western audience. They are populated not only with plants and food resources and waterholes, but also with people sitting in the landscape – men with hunting implements and women with digging sticks and coolamons.

Career

The first exhibition for Michelle Possum was a family group show in 1987 in Brisbane, and her works were exhibited alongside those of her father and her sister Gabriella. Michelle currently paints in Melbourne, where her family now lives, and she often paints in the company of her sister. Aboriginal art status – Established artist.

Group Exhibitions

1987   Possum Family Paintings, Brisbane QLD
1995   Desert Dreaming
2005   Aboriginal and Oceanic Art Fair, Sydney NSW
2005   Christmas Show, Australian Contemporary Aboriginal Art
2006   Modern Masters from an Ancient Culture
2006   Opening Exhibition, Aranda Art Alice Springs NT
2006   Aboriginal and Oceanic Art Fair, Sydney NSW
2006   Shanghai Art Fair, China
2007   Shanghai Art Fair, China
2007   Hong Kong Cricket Club
2007   London Art Fair, London UK
2015 Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi & Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2016 From the Sand to the Sails | a Possum Family Exhibition
2019 Landscape Colours, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2019 International Women’s Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2020 The Continuing Legacy of Clifford Possum: Clifford, Gabriella, Michelle, Coo-ee Art Gallery, Sydney
2020 Family Business – The Art of the Possum Family, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2020 Colours of Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney2022 Connection, National Museum of Australia, Canberra

Solo Exhibitions

2009   Michelle Possum, Australia Dreaming Art, Fitzroy VIC
2009   Generations, Aranda Art Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2015   Gabriella & Michelle Possum Nungarrayi, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2017   Gabriella & Michelle Possum Nungarrayi, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

Collections

Aranda Collection, Melbourne
Knight Family Collection, Melbourne
Pat Corrigan Collection, Brisbane

Related Artists

Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi

Links

Art Gallery of South Australia
The Perpetually Evolving Michelle Possum Nungurrayi – Manager Interview 2015