Michelle Possum Indigenous Australian, b. 1970-

Michelle was born in 1970 in the remote Mount Allan, to the north west of Alice Springs. Her and her siblings were taught to paint at a very young age by her father, who happened to be the famous Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. She began painting in the mid-eighties and till this day still portrays her father’s unique style in her work, in addition to bolder colour and the use of female ceremonies and stories.

Her work is typically aerial views of where she grew up and all the iconography of the sites she knows so well. She also paints a variety of different things including bush tucker stories, seed dreamings, fire dreamings, worm dreamings, goanna dreamings and her grandmother’s country. Many of these are woven together in her art.

Her works are popular because once the visual images are understood, they become very interesting to the average westerner. Not only do her paintings include plants, food items and waterholes, they also include people sitting in the landscape, men with hunting tools and women with digging sticks and coolamons.

Michelle currently lives and works in Melbourne and is often found painting in the company of her sister, Gabriella.