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 Nungurrayi 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).
Art operates in a variety of modes for and from different cultures, and this exhibition offers viewers a unique opportunity to appreciate works that are expressed from, as the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery’s Tjukurpa press release of 2026 describes it, ‘the strength and beauty of Western Desert storytelling’.
At the vernissage Former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard gave this introduction.
“It is fabulous to be here, and I’ve never had the illusion of being tall quite the way I have now [making a speech from a staircase]. What a fabulous thing. I have just flown in from Australia, and I’m at that dangerous moment with jetlag where you think you’re all right, but you’re really not. So, if I say anything silly, please forgive me. And one other declaration before I start: I am not an expert on Aboriginal art in the way others in the room are, but I did want to come and say a few words, because the art of Gabriella and Clifford Possum, and Aboriginal art generally, has played an important role in my life.
I am of that generation of Australians — a child of the 60s — who went to school and was taught that Australian history started when Captain Cook ‘discovered’ Australia, and we weren’t taught anything before that. And of course, as an adult, I became very much aware, particularly because of the political struggles that these movements gave rise to, of many of the real issues that the nation needed to resolve for Indigenous Australians: the huge battles that there were over Native Title and land rights, the battles that there were over the Stolen Generations, and the list goes on. Through all of that, like millions of other Australians, I came to understand, particularly through the land rights struggles, that there was a sacred connection between Aboriginal Australians and their land. But it’s one thing to intellectually understand that; it’s another thing to feel the emotional power of it. And it’s art like this — Gabriella’s art and Clifford’s art — that has enabled us to understand that at a more fundamental, elemental level, rather than just an intellectual level. Because, of course, the Songlines and the Dreamings are their way of recording maps, living history, and connection to country, and they go back to the time before our time — the time of the Dreaming — when the creators sang the world into being and named every rock, every tree, every river. It is a very different creation story from our own — one where the land was truly sacred. Whereas our creation story — and when I say ‘our’ I’m talking about people like me, brought up in the Christian tradition — our creation story is one of being given dominion over the land, and the animals, and the birds and the fish: dominion to use the land. This story, the Dreaming, the Songlines, is a creation story that centres the land and renders it sacred. That power is caught in each of these works, and it speaks to us of that living history.
These paintings are a map, a guide for those who can read them with knowledge of the Songlines, and for us, they give that real sense of what it must mean to feel that powerful connection to land.
I’m in the happy position of remembering Clifford Possum and the way in which he was a pioneer who brought this kind of art to the attention of Australians. He was a big figure — honoured by our nation too late in his life, but ultimately honoured by our nation before his passing. To now see Gabriella carrying on his Songlines and his motifs is incredibly powerful. While she is the inheritor of all of that, she is also a creator in her own right.
I’m in the very privileged position of owning one of her Seven Sisters representations, which is very special to me — both because of the quality of the art, and because I reflect constantly on the story that it is telling us: of women looking after each other, but running from a shape-shifter. It is a story of women showing incredible resilience as they go through that journey and try to stay ahead of and not be captured by the shape-shifter — women who ultimately have to flee into the sky and become the stars that we see, while the shape-shifter becomes Orion, who, till the end of time, is slightly behind them in the night sky. I think, in this world where we’re familiar with shape-shifters in all sorts of dimensions of our lives, and we’re aware of, unfortunately, their contemporary power, and the struggles of many people to try and stay out of the clutches of that contemporary power, it is a story which really resonates. And for someone who spends much of her current life focused on women’s solidarity, on feminism, on the global movement for gender equality, that story of solidarity between sisters constantly speaks to me.
As you move around the gallery tonight and look at these incredible artworks, you will feel some of that power. It’s really a privilege for us to have the opportunity to gather here. It’s important to know that we wouldn’t have that privilege and opportunity if it wasn’t for Rebecca [Rebecca Hossack, gallerist] who I’ve come to know in my time in London, and who I absolutely admire for her pioneering spirit in bringing this art into this amazing city. It all seems, in retrospect, sort of obvious — often great innovations, when looked back on, prompt the thought: ‘yes, of course, someone was going to do that.’ But I can imagine that when you first did it, and no one in London really knew anything about this kind of art, and there was no market for it, there was no one who was demanding it, and there were no art critics who understood it — it was a courageous and probably lonely thing to do, to be that kind of pioneer. But because you did it, artworks of this quality, with their truly sacred resonance, can be brought to new audiences. So Rebecca, thank you for doing that, and thank you for inviting me to say a few words tonight.”
Speaking to Trebuchet, Julia Gillard went into more detail.
What brought you to the show, and what should people look out for in Gabriella’s work?
“I can give a one-word answer to the first part: Rebecca. We got to know each other in recent years, and she let me know about the show — so, her invitation. But secondly, I’m very much aware of Gabriella’s work. I do have one of her paintings, which is very special to me, and I have always been a great admirer of her father’s work. So that personal connection brought me here.
I would certainly recommend seeking out the Seven Sisters Dreaming motif. She does other work, as we can see around us, but I think there is particular beauty and power in that series. The way in which she presents it, there’s a real shimmer, movement and vibrancy to the pieces. You can almost get the sense, looking at them, that they’re alive. And that’s very special.”
Exhibition Notes: Gabriella Possum, Tjukurpa, 6 May – 1st Sep, Rebecca Hossack Gallery
For our XXXVIII Songlines Season, the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery is thrilled to present the work of contemporary Indigenous Australian artist Gabriella Possum. This marks a powerful moment thirty five years after the gallery first exhibited her father, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri — a pioneering figure in the Aboriginal art movement. In 1990, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri travelled to London for his exhibition at the gallery, during which he attended a reception at Buckingham Palace and was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II. This exhibition marked a pivotal moment in the international recognition of his work.
Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi’s practice honours this legacy of one of Australia’s most celebrated artistic families while expressing a distinctive contemporary voice. Her paintings are rooted in the rich visual language of Indigenous Australian storytelling and her Anmatyerre heritage, offering insight into ancestral knowledge and cultural continuity. Rich in colour, pattern, and symbolism, her paintings map sacred sites, songlines, and narratives that express deep connections between land, culture, and kinship.
This exhibition will present works exploring Grandmother’s Country and Seven Sisters, themes for which Gabriella is particularly renowned. The works are rooted in the Dreaming stories Gabriella Possum inherited from her paternal grandmother, Long Rose Nungala, and other senior women who mentored her during her formative years. In her My Grandmother’s Country works, Gabriella uses pinks, mauves, and burnt red tones to depict iconography that reflects how people lived on and used the land as a rich resource for food and medicinal plants.
The exhibition also includes works that depict the Seven Sisters Dreaming story, widely told by Aboriginal communities across Australia, where a luminous band of light crosses the canvas against deep blue and violet skies. The Seven Sisters are associated with the Pleiades, a cluster of stars visible in the night sky, representing seven ancestral women. In the narrative, the sisters travel across the land while being pursued by a man — often a trickster. As they flee, they create landscapes and sacred sites, before ultimately rising into the sky to become the Pleiades. This story carries profound cultural significance, embodying women’s knowledge and law and the enduring connection between sky and land.
Born in Alice Springs, Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi is a world-renowned Anmatyerre artist currently working in Melbourne. Her work has been exhibited widely across Australia and internationally, and she has undertaken several major public commissions, including a work presented to Queen Elizabeth II at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2008. She has also contributed to significant public projects such as the Vivid Projection Programme at the Sydney Opera House in 2016, and her design featured on an Art Tram during the 2014 Melbourne Festival. Her work is held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the Royal Collection of HRH Queen Elizabeth II in the United Kingdom. Her practice continues to honour her Anmatyerre heritage while engaging new audiences with the strength and beauty of Western Desert storytelling.
Bibliography
Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery 2026, Tjukurpa: press release, Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, London.Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park 2024, Tjukurpa, Australian Government, viewed 6 May 2026, https://uluru.gov.au/discover/culture/tjukurpa/
Images courtesy of Rebecca Hossack Gallery. © Gabriella Possum
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
