"Women's Body Painting", Aboriginal dot painting, acrylic on linen, by Gabriella Possum Nungarrayi, daughter of legendary Aboriginal artist, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjara (deceased). Women have the responsibility of gathering bush foods. These include bush plums, bush yams, bush onions, honey ants and various bush medicines. The activities are accompanied by ceremonies, rituals, song and dance cycles and body painting in celebration of the Dreamtime and the anticipated abundance of the harvest. They also propitiate the forces that control the health of the land and keep it happy. The elements in this painting represent the elements that women paint on their bodies at ceremonial events.

Gabriella Possum Nungarrayi is the eldest daughter of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (deceased), arguably the best known Australian Aboriginal painter of our time. Clifford Possum's influence on her work has been profound as he served as both teacher and role model.

Gabriella Possum was born at Mt. Allen, not far from Alice Springs, in 1967. She won her first art award in Alice Springs while still a college student. Gabriella's work has been exhibited in Washington, DC, (1992) London, (1993) Berne, Switzerland, (1993) and the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. She is represented in collections ranging from the Holmes a Court collection and the Flinders University Museum to the Kelton Foundation Collection in Santa Monica, CA, and the Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia in Melbourne.

She first came to our attention in 1990 when we met her outside a gallery in Sydney. She visited our hotel room a day later. With child in tow and pregnant like a melon, she unrolled her canvasses. We were struck by the quality and power of her work and became instant fans. We purchased all that she had with her. We have since sought out her work wherever we have shopped for Australian Aboriginal art.
Gabriella Possum’s works of various sizes offered at auction in Australia, often see prices in excess of ten thousand dollars. One significance of such work is that similar paintings were used as evidence to support successful Aboriginal Land Claims in the 1970s.

This is a guaranteed authentic work by Gabriella Possum Nungarrayi, acquired in Sydney, Australia in 2001. On stretchers and ready to hang. Certificate of Authenticity included. 26" x 22." AGKC02