Gabriella was born in 1967 at Mt Allan, Northern Territory. She is the eldest daughter of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, one of the most famous of our Australian Artists (deceased 2002). She began painting at an early age, under the tuition of her famous father and often collaborated with him, producing important works.
The content of Gabriella’s paintings is the Dreaming stories handed down to her from her paternal grandmother, Long Rose Nungala and the other senior women who taught her in her formative years – these include Grandmother’s Dreaming, Seven Sisters Dreaming (Milky Way), Goanna, Bush Tucker and Serpent Dreamings of her Anmatyerre heritage.
She was the youngest artist to be awarded the prestigious Alice Springs Art Prize whilst still studying at Yirara College at age 16. Her natural talent and knowledge of the women’s dreaming stories was enhanced technically by her association with the grass roots painters of Papunya Tula – her father’s brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Long Jack Phillipus, Johnny Warrankgula Tjupurula, and many others.
Gabriella resides in Melbourne with her family and travels extensively in her profession, as did her late father. Her Prizes, Collections and Exhibitions both within Australia and Internationally reflect the high standing in which the artist is held and the undeniable investment potential of her very beautiful artworks.
Selected Exhibitions
1987
– Brisbane in conjunction with her father Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
1988
– Aboriginal Dot Painting, Melbourne
1992
– Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
– Washington DC, U.S.A.
1993
– Berne, Switzerland
– London, U.K.
1998
– Art of the Aborigines, Warsaw, Poland
1999
– Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
– Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne
2000
– United Nations Building, New York
2001
– Mia Mia Gallery, Melbourne
2002
– Canterbury Art Exhibition, Melbourne
Selected Collections
– National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
– Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
– Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
– Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
– Richard Kelton Foundation Collection, Santa Monica, USA
– Galeria R. Poznan, Poland
– Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
– Winterthur Collection, Switzerland
Awards
1991
– Professional Development Grant, from the Aboriginal Arts Unit of the Australia Council for the Arts
1993
– Alice Springs Art Prize, Record Cover for Coloured Stone