Dreamtime Visualized

Born in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia, Gabriella Possum Nungarrayi is a world-renowned Anmatyerre artist currently working in Melbourne. At an early age, Gabriella began painting alongside her father, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Her work is not only reflective of the iconography and landscape of the Central Australian Desert but also visually tells Dreamings.

Dreamings are the stories that detail the Dreamtime, the moment in which life was created by and with spiritual beings and ancestors. These stories not only explain life on Earth, but also encompass the values, responsibilities, and practices of Indigenous Australians. In this sense Dreamings have a timeless and liminal quality, passing from past to present to future. Gabriella is particularly known for her “Grandmother’s Country,” “Milky Way Seven Sisters,” and “Salty Lake” Dreamtime stories – this is because each artist can only tell the stories that they are initiated into by their ancestors.

For time immemorial, Indigenous Australians relied on oral and artistic renderings of their stories, as they did not have a written language. Prior to the early 1970s, Central Australian Desert art was exclusively created on the Earth itself or on the body, in 1971 materials like canvas and acrylic paints were introduced to Indigenous communities. Drawing upon stories that date back over 40,000 years and have been preserved due to generational sharing, this artwork is known for its conservation of history and culture, however, Gabriella has made a name for herself through her innovative use of color and contemporary aesthetic. Gabriella is recognized as a leader in her community for not only preserving Dreamings, but encouraging younger generations to be initiated into these stories and sharing Indigenous Australian culture with an international audience. 

Her work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra) and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Some of her most famous work has included the 2008 Chelsea Garden Show, the design of the Art Tram during the 2014 Festival of Melbourne, and the design of the Opera House for the 2016 Vivid Festival in Sydney.