Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO

Paths of the Ancestors

1973

This work marks a critical turning point in the Papunya movement, setting the groundwork for the epic canvas paintings of the late 1970s and 80s. While most early Papunya paintings focus on a single ceremony or site, Clifford Possum creates the first of what would become a series of encyclopedic “map” paintings. Possum depicts nine sites in his country to show their connections in time and space, as well as their geological and botanical impact on the earth. Individual narratives are indicated by the tracks of ancestral beings such as Rrpwamper (the Brushtail Possum), Arley (Emu) and Perentie (Monitor Lizard). It also maps the travels of dancing women, deadly assassins tracking their target, and raging bushfires sweeping the land.

These old men know the stories of this area and they keep it straight. Somebody strange might come and take our land away. Somebody might come and tell a story. But we say ‘No’ to strangers.

MARTIN HAGAN (Anmatyerr)

Language Group: Anmatyerr
Dates: c. 1932-2002

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was one of the last men to join Papunya Tula Artists and the first Aboriginal Australian artist to gain international fame. Clifford Possum was born on Napperby Station in the eastern portion of Anmatyerr Country, where his family had moved following the Coniston Massacre of the mid-1920s. His mother also raised Bill Stockman Tjapaltjarri whose own mother had been killed in the massacre. In 1976, Possum was selected to paint for the BBC film-makers of ‘Desert Dreamers,’ in which he collaborated with his brother, Tim Leura. Clifford Possum also served as chairperson of Papunya Tula Artists during the early 1980s. His solo exhibition held in 1988 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London was the first solo exhibition by an Aboriginal Australian artist in a major international institution. Over the next decade, Clifford Possum would become the most widely traveled Aboriginal artist of his generation and an ambassador for Aboriginal art around the world. In 1996, he was the subject of the major monograph, The Art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri by Vivien Johnson and in 2002 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.

CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI, Paths of the Ancestors, 1973

Synthetic polymer paint on particle board. 36 × 48 in. (91 × 122 cm). Collection of Steve Martin and Anne Stringfield.

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