Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (c. 1932–2002) was an Anmatyerre Australian Aboriginal artist whose paintings helped bring Western Desert art to international attention.

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Warlugulong: A 1977 painting by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri depicting ancestral events associated with the artist's country. This large-scale work is among his best-known paintings and entered the National Gallery of Australia in 2007.
Western Desert Art Movement: An Aboriginal painting movement that emerged at Papunya in the early 1970s. Its use of acrylic painting on canvas provided the movement in which Tjapaltjarri became prominent.
Anmatyerre: An Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional country lies in Central Australia. Tjapaltjarri's Anmatyerre identity and country inform the cultural setting of his work.
National Gallery of Australia: Australia's national art museum, located in Canberra. Its 2007 purchase of Warlugulong signaled the painting's high status in a major national collection.
Anmatyerre Story: An ancestral narrative connected with Anmatyerre people and their country in Central Australia. His paintings drew on inherited narratives associated with Anmatyerre country.
Dreaming: A term used for Aboriginal Australian ancestral narratives, law, spirituality, and continuing relationships to country. Dreaming narratives and obligations shaped the knowledge represented in his paintings.
Papunya: A settlement in Australia's Northern Territory established in the 1950s for Aboriginal people relocated from surrounding regions. He lived and painted at Papunya, where the Western Desert art movement emerged.
Australian Art: Visual art produced in Australia, encompassing Indigenous and non-Indigenous traditions. His recognition reshaped how Indigenous painting was represented within national art history.
Papunya Tula Artists: An Aboriginal-owned art cooperative established at Papunya in 1972. Tjapaltjarri became a leading artist in this cooperative's early Western Desert painting movement.
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara: A South Australian Aboriginal polity and region whose peoples and lands are distinct from Anmatyerre country. This distinct cultural region helps distinguish Western Desert communities and traditions from Tjapaltjarri's Anmatyerre affiliations.