Michelle Possum Nungurrayi b. 1970

Born at Yuelamu (Mt Allan), a small community some 300km north-west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Michelle Possum Nungurrayi is the daughter of acclaimed artist and one of the founding directors of Papunya Tula Artists, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1932-2002). Michelle and her siblings, Gabriella and Lionel, were taught to paint by their father and have each established successful artistic careers. Michelle began painting at an early age, and produced her first canvases while still a teenage in the mid-1980s.

The Dreamings that Michelle paints come from Yuelamu, her home country surrounding the community of Mt Allan in the Northern Territory. These include aspects of the the famous Seven Sisters Dreaming songline that intersects the continent, Grandmother’s Country, Fire Dreaming, and bush tucker stories like Seed Dreaming, Bush Coconut and Goanna Dreaming – many of her canvases incorporate multiple stories, creating complex, interwoven designs. As is typical of many desert painters, Michelle paints from a birds-eye point of view to depict features of the landscape, such as waterholes, soakage sites and rocky outcrops.

Michelle Possum Nungurrayi has exhibited widely both within Australia and internationally, and her artworks are represented in major private and public gallery collections.