Pammy Foster
Pammy Foster is a Waramungu and Alyawarr woman born in Tennant Creek and raised between Ampilatwatja and Wutunugurra (Epenarra). She began painting from an early age, learning from her aunt Susie Peterson and her grandmother Jessie Peterson, both well-known artists from Wutunugurra. Pammy paints intricate pieces depicting the bush plants and landscapes of the Wutunugurra region. She is a devoted artist who will finesse a canvas until she is completely satisfied with her work, resulting in highly detailed and layered pieces
Michelle Possum Michelle was born at Napperby Station, Northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. She was taught to paint by her father Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Clifford is the most renowned painter of the founding group of Papunya artists.
Michelle’s work has a strong connection to her father, family and land. Her paintings can incorporate strong figurative elements as well as important topography relating to her family's country, such as the abundance of food and water. In addition to sacred landmarks and iconography, MIchelle's artwork includes important bush tucker and waterholes, making a meaningful connection to modern kitchens, the source of such provisions.
Khatija Possum
Khatija acquired her painting skills through direct observation and hands-on experience under her mother's guidance. Her mother's art is dedicated to preserving traditional stories and styles, and this can also be seen in Khatija's work.
This process emphasises the integral role of art in the intergenerational transmission of Aboriginal culture and stories.
Epenarra Design Story
"When you go out bush you see all different flowers. You can pick them and smell them - some of them smell very nice."
Epenarra artist Pammy Foster uses bright colours to capture the landscape of the Davenport Ranges, Pammy builds textures with layers of paint, alluding to the rocky nature of the landscape, densely grouped green trees and flowering bushes cover the canvas suggesting the work shows the land in the rainy season.
Wutunugurra (Epenarra) is described by the Indigenous people as Hill Country, it is nestled in the foot of Iytwelepenty (the Davenport Ranges National Park). The area is home to the popular camping sites of Whistleduck Creek and Policeman Waterhole and a unique variety of birds, insects and bush medicine.
Grandmothers Country Design Story
The Dreamings that Michelle Possum paints come from Yuelamu on her home country at Mt Allan. These include the stories of Seven Sisters Dreaming, Bush Tucker stories including Seed Dreaming, Bush Coconut, Fire Dreaming, Goanna Dreaming, and Grandmother’s Country, many of which she combines together in complex interwoven designs.
Mainly depicting the overview of maps of traditional Country from her family lands, Michelle describes the many important cultural sites she knows well. Her paintings have gained wide popularity partly due to the fact that as we come to understand the iconography, the paintings make fascinating narratives for a western audience. They are populated not only with plants and food resources and waterholes, but also with people sitting in the landscape – men with hunting implements and women with digging sticks and coolamons.
Women’s Dreaming Design Story
The Women’s Dreaming paintings by Khatija Possum depicts Women’s ceremonial sites surrounding Tjukurla in the western desert of Central Australia – traditional homelands to the artist’s great grandmother. Ceremonial sites carry a deep spiritual meaning, and it is where the women narrate their sacred Aboriginal dreamtime stories, through song lines, dance cycles and body paint.
This painting has many secret and sacred landmarks and iconography but also includes the important fire, bush tucker and waterholes that are imperative to the women as the ceremonies can last for over a week.
Though primarily a landscape painting Khatija has surpassed the basic stories and landmarks and has expanded this art of body painting and ceremonial themes into a classic contemporary composition, using modern acrylic paints.
For Khatija Possum, painting is in her blood. A descendant of the famous Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Khatija has paved her own way and made a name for herself in the art world. Born in 1989 in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, she has been deeply influenced by her grandfather, Clifford Possum, and her mother, Michelle Possum Nungurrayi artwork. When Khatija was nine, her mother began to paint again and it was at this time that Khatija fell in love with her mother’s work and indeed painting. Through observing and assisting her mother Khatija learnt to paint. It is this process that highlights the importance of art in keeping culture alive as stories and skills are passed from one generation to the next.
As a mother herself, the importance of keeping her cultural heritage strong is of great consequence.
