Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi

Place: Papunya

Born: 1967

Biography:

Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi is a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist born in 1967 in the Papunya community. She followed in her father Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri's footsteps and became an internationally respected painter. Examples of her work are held in many gallery collections in Australia and elsewhere, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Flinders University Art Museum, the Kelton Foundation Collection, the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and the Royal Collection.

Early Life and Career

Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi is the eldest daughter of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Born in 1967 in Papunya, around 2.4 km northwest of Alice Springs in the community formed in the 1930s when Pintupi and Luritja people were forced off their traditional land and moved into Hermannsburg and Haasts Bluff. Her language is Anmatyerre. She spent her early life in Alice Springs, where she began painting with her father from a very young age. When she was 16 In 1985, Nungurrayi won the Alice Springs Art Award. Throughout her life Nungurrayi has been exhibiting work in Australia and overseas.

Notable Works and Exhibitions

Some of her notable works include Grandmother, a painting that showcases her unique style and is held in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia. You can view more of her work on Wikioo.org. In 2006, she was one of the 33 artists showing at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, which was the first major US presentation of art by indigenous women in Australia. In 2010 Nungurrayi showed work in the Down Under Gallery in Munich, Germany.

Awards and Recognition

Nungurrayi's talent has been recognized in a number of international shows. In 2008 Nungurrayi's work found an international audience when celebrity gardener Jamie Durie won the Gold Medal in the Chelsea Flower Show. When HRH Queen Elizabeth gave Durie the prize she was presented with an original work by the artist, which now hangs in the Royal Collection alongside that of her father.

• 1985: Won the Alice Springs Art Award
• 1991: Received a Professional Development Grant from the Aboriginal Arts Unit of the Australia Council for the Arts
• 2006: Exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts
• 2010: Exhibited at the Down Under Gallery in Munich, Germany

You can learn more about Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi on Wikipedia and view her work on Wikioo.org. Her work is also featured in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, which can be viewed on Wikioo.org.