Artspeak Studio Gallery
3
Artspeak Studio Gallery Yarra Street, Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia, 3113. Tel: 0408376080 E-Mail: [email protected] Artist: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO Language Group: Anmatyarre Title: Possum Dreaming Date: 1996 Size: 189 x 120 cm (aprox. 6` 2 1/2`` x 3` 1 1 1/4`` ) Medium: Acrylic on Linen Code: CPT/Artspeak PDM 9600 Provenance: Commissioned by Milanka J Sullivan Milanka J Sullivan & Frank Mosmeri Collection Private Collection In this painting, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri gives symbolic expression to his own personal Possum totem and Dreaming associated to the artist`s main home site of Larumba , which is also known as Napperby Station, and is situated in the south-western part of Anmatyarre country in the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory of Australia. Sharing the same name as his Possum totem, and Dreaming Ancestor, who is known as Umpumburra, which is the artist`s own tribal name, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri represents the Ancestral Possum through a meandering line flanked by possum paw prints. This meandering line constitutes the trail left in the desert sand by the Ancestral Possum's tail as he wanders around his beloved home site of Larumba. The idea of wandering, or travelling, is also associated to the Possum Dreaming, in which the Ancestor travelled south to Pitjantjatjara country to find himself an appropriate wife, who the Ancestor brought back to Larumba and established his family during the Dreamtime, at Creation. Here also, the Ancestral Possum maintained his cleanliness and was proud of his body designs, which is commemorated in a sacred Possum song. Handed down from one generation to another, this Possum song is, or was, sung by the artist in sacred Possum ceremonies, where all the participants sing, as well as engage in ritual dance, body painting, and designing sacred sandpaintings associated to Umpumburra and his Dreaming, which also embodies secret/sacred tribal information associated to the Possum Ancestor and his Laws that the artist himself could not impart to uninitiated people, who have not earned the right to this knowledge through participating in certain secret/sacred ritual practices concerned with the rites of passage into manhood.
Transcript of Artspeak Studio Gallery
Artspeak Studio Gallery
Yarra Street, Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia, 3113. Tel: 0408376080 E-Mail: [email protected]
Artist: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO Language Group: Anmatyarre
Title: Possum Dreaming Date: 1996
Size: 189 x 120 cm (aprox. 6` 2 1/2`` x 3` 1 1 1/4`` )
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Code: CPT/Artspeak PDM 9600
Provenance: Commissioned by Milanka J Sullivan Milanka J Sullivan & Frank Mosmeri Collection Private Collection
In this painting, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri gives symbolic expression to his own personal Possum totem and Dreaming associated to the artist`s main home site of Larumba , which is also known as Napperby Station, and is situated in the south-western part of Anmatyarre country in the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory of Australia. Sharing the same name as his Possum totem, and Dreaming Ancestor, who is known as Umpumburra, which is the artist`s own tribal name, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri represents the Ancestral Possum through a meandering line flanked by possum paw prints. This meandering line constitutes the trail left in the desert sand by the Ancestral Possum's tail as he wanders around his beloved home site of Larumba. The idea of wandering, or travelling, is also associated to the Possum Dreaming, in which the Ancestor travelled south to Pitjantjatjara country to find himself an appropriate wife, who the Ancestor brought back to Larumba and established his family during the Dreamtime, at Creation. Here also, the Ancestral Possum maintained his cleanliness and was proud of his body designs, which is commemorated in a sacred Possum song. Handed down from one generation to another, this Possum song is, or was, sung by the artist in sacred Possum ceremonies, where all the participants sing, as well as engage in ritual dance, body painting, and designing sacred sandpaintings associated to Umpumburra and his Dreaming, which also embodies secret/sacred tribal information associated to the Possum Ancestor and his Laws that the artist himself could not impart to uninitiated people, who have not earned the right to this knowledge through participating in certain secret/sacred ritual practices concerned with the rites of passage into manhood.
Artspeak Studio Gallery
Yarra Street, Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia, 3113. Tel: 0408376080 E-Mail: [email protected]
In the work, the idea of ceremony is captured by the artist through the linear design, or patterning, which gives symbolic form to bodypaint. This linear design, however, also doubles to act as a representation of Larumba`s Napperby Lake, which is largely made up of salt water that flows underground along meandering claypans beneath the earth's surface. Here also, the idea of ceremony is depicted by concentric-like circles, or roundels, that constitute ceremonial sandpaintings, but also double as various areas. The middle area in particular is were Anmatyarre Law-Men hold there secret/sacred ceremonies, as did Umpumburra, the artist`s Possum Ancestor. As for the other two concentric-like circles, these too are sacred places, but these areas are where Napperby Lake also supplies fresh drinking water that comes to the surface, particularly after heavy rain. So being, the artists shows foot prints that belong to a Tjapaltjarri Law-Man, and symbolize all Tjapaltjarri Law-Men, including the artist himself, who like Umpumburra, wander to these fresh water sites for nourishment. As well as seeking water, the Tjapaltjarri Law-Man/Men, also like the Possum Ancestor, travel around Larumba finding wild native bush food, which is depicted in this work through star-like shapes that represent bushes featuring small black dots that constitute bush berries and other native fruit in a plush desert environment captured by dot patterning of various colours. This dot patterning, however, not only represents Larumba`s environment, but also doubles to symbolize bodypaint. For most importantly, this work is not merely a landscape, but a Dreaming, which like all Dreamings, embody Law that remain intimately interconnected to secret/sacred ceremonies and all that they encompass, which for Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was his main concern and the subject of all his work. Particularly this painting, or Possum Dreaming, which is the artist`s own and the essence of his personal tribal Anmatyarre identity. Description and Authentication: Milanka J Sullivan Description: Milanka J Sullivan
Artspeak Studio Gallery
Yarra Street, Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia, 3113. Tel: 0408376080 E-Mail: [email protected]
Artist: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO Title: Possum Dreaming
Code: CPT/Artspeak PDM 9600
Photographer: Frank Mosmeri
