ABORIGINAL DESERT ART  GALLERY

CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI

Born c.1932 at Napperby station of the Anmatyerre language / tribe.

His father was born at the site of Ngarlu (Ngwerritye Alatiye) west of Mt Allen. His mother came from Warlugulong, south-west of Yuendumu. The name 'Possum' was given to Clifford by his paternal grandfather. Clifford received no formal education, growing up 'in the bush' and then at Jay Creek during the late 40's. He did stock work at various stations across the Centre, including Hamilton Downs, Glen Helen, Mt Wedge, Mt Allen and Napperby.

Clifford was one of the first painters in Papunya and is therefore a forefather of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement. He is represented in all major collections in Australia and overseas.

One of the last men to join Geoffrey Bardon's group of 'painting men' at the beginning of the 70's - with the encouragement of his brother, Tim LEURA - Clifford Possum was already a wood carver of renown, and had been employed at Papunya teaching wood carving to the children; he was Chairman of Papunya Tula Artists during the late 70's and early 80's. He and his family lived at Papunya, Napperby station, Umbungurru outstation near Glen Helen and then Alice Springs from the mid 80's.

Exhibitions, Prizes and Commissions include:

'The Past and Present of the Australian Aborigine',

Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles, 1980-1

Perspecta, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, 1981

Sao Pablo Bienal, 1983

Three Papunya Painters', Adelaide Arts Festival, 1984

Mural design, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, 1985

Alice Springs Art Prize, 1983

Community Arts Centre, Brisbane 1987

'Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Paintings 1973-86'

Institute if Contemporary Arts, London, 1988

'Dreamings': The Art of Aboriginal Australia, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Adelaide, 1988-9

Austral Gallery, St Louis, 1988

Visited USA (St Louis, New York) 1989

Australian Embassy Washington and New York 1999

Songlines', Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, 1990.

Solo exhibition Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, 1990.

In 1991 he completed two large commissions, for the new Strehlow Research Foundation, Alice Springs and the new Alice Springs Airport. Clifford has painted for the Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery ( Michael Hollow ) since 1989.

This painting depicts the trail that the little yellow worms leave as they burrow underground. The ridges in the earth are shown by the wiggly lines. The lines also depict the trails of the Ancestor Worm-men as they travelled across the earth during the Dreamtime. The Worm Dreaming is the artists Dreaming and belongs particularly to a site, Narripi, approximately 100 kilometres east of Mt.Allan.

Late in the afternoon the man prepare the camp and clear the ground for the ceremony. In preparation for the ceremony the man burn Spinifex grass ( ashes from Spinifex grass are mixed with Kangaroo or Emu fat and are used for body painting ) then they start painting the body designs. The ceremony starts after dark and continues till the early hours in the morning. During the ceremony the Worm-men and the Possum man dance and sit around the symbolic ceremonial circle (ceremonial site), chanting song - titles which tell the journeys of the ancestors. They then become one of the totem.