Michael Nelson Jagamara: Possum Stories
Artists
The catalyst for this exhibition began when the Sydney Opera House approached FireWorks Gallery following a major conservation grant for Possum Dreaming (1987), Michael Nelson Jagamara’s magnificent 10-metre work commissioned by the Sydney Opera House Trust for the Bicentenary and unveiled in 1988. As conservation research progresses, the project is also bringing renewed attention to the traditional stories held within the work. In June, a small team travelled to Papunya and Alice Springs to meet with Jagamara’s family and engage with the Possum Stories, which continue to unfold.
Possum Stories focuses on these narratives through works Jagamara painted between 2000 and 2019. Each features distinctive Possum track markings, including the ‘E’-shaped footprint, with winding tracks depicting Possum People travelling east and west, day and night, between caves and campsites.
For Jagamara, the Possum Story represents a critical Jukurrpa central to Warlpiri kinship structures and law. The Possum ‘Love Story’ concerns the consequences of ‘wrong skin’ relationships—prohibited unions whose transgression carries severe consequences. The Possum People are therefore spirit beings whose stories embody complex systems of law, Country and ancestral knowledge.
The exhibition also includes four collaborative works by Imants Tillers and Jagamara, who began working together in 2001 and completed more than 30 works before Jagamara’s death in 2020. Two works, Know Yourself and Intuition 3, begun in 2019, were completed posthumously by Tillers in 2024. Their earlier collaborations draw on the Confused Possum story, which became an important point of connection between the two artists.
As Ian McLean[1] recently observed, the Possum Story was integral to Jagamara and Tillers’ artistic relationship, raising questions about how the story might have reflected their own collaboration and connection.
Possum Stories pays tribute to Michael Nelson Jagamara and his family, with thanks to all contributors, including Imants Tillers, Isidore Tillers, Djon Mundine, Ian McLean, Euan Carlisle and Una Rey.
