Outback Facts: Indigenous Art
Visual imagery is a fundamental part of indigenous life - a connection between past and present, between the supernatural and the earthly, between people and the land. For indigenous artists, the production of paintings, carvings and woven products reinforces the Aboriginal way of life, making the process just as important as the finished object. The early forms of indigenous artistic expression include rock carvings, ceremonial body painting, ground designs, rock engravings and wood-burnt design. All early indigenous art was based on the various clans' and nations' ancestral Dreamings - the Creation - when the earth's physical features were formed by the struggles between powerful supernatural ancestors such as the Rainbow Serpent, the Lightning Men and the Wandjina spirit guardians.
Today there is a huge range of work being produced across Australia. Through art, indigenous people have found a way of voicing identity and renewing indigenous culture and the spirit of the Dreaming.
Rock Art
Ancient outdoor galleries dating as far back as 60,000 years are found throughout Australia, providing a record of changing environments and lifestyles over the millennia.
For local Aboriginal people, rock-art sites are a major source of traditional knowledge - historical archives in place of a written form.
The earliest hand or grass prints were followed by a naturalistic style, with large outlines of people or animals filled in with colour. A dynamic style followed, in which motion was often depicted (a dotted line, for example, to show a spear's path through the air) and mythological beings began to appear, with human bodies and animal heads. Following this was a style featuring simple human silhouettes and then the more recent X-ray style, which displays the internal organs and bone structure of animals.
Painting
Western Desert painting, also known as dot painting, is probably the most well known of indigenous painting styles. It partly evolved from 'ground paintings', which formed the centrepiece of dances and songs. These were designs painted on the ground with pulped plant material. While dot paintings may look random and abstract, they depict Dreaming stories and can be read in many ways, including as aerial landscape maps.
While symbols depicted in the paintings are widely used, their meanings are known only by the artist and the people closely associated with them. In this way sacred stories can be publicly portrayed, as the deeper meaning is not revealed to uninitiated viewers.
Bark painting, using the bark of the stringy-bark tree, is an integral part of the cultural heritage of indigenous Arnhem Land people. It's difficult to establish when bark was first used, partly because it is perishable, so very old pieces don't exist, but these paintings were never intended to be permanent records.
Artefacts & Crafts
Objects traditionally made for practical or ceremonial uses, such as boomerangs and didjeridus, often featured intricate and symbolic decoration. Wooden sculptures (of birds, fish, animals and ancestral beings) were produced for particular ceremonies, and were engraved and painted with intricate symbolic designs.
Articles made from fibres are a major art form among indigenous women, although in some regions men also made woven objects for use as hunting tools. While these objects have utilitarian purposes, many also have ritual uses. As well as their customary use, many items
are produced specifically for sale to the tourist market.
Articles made from fibres are a major art form among indigenous women, although in some regions men also made woven objects for use as hunting tools. While these objects have utilitarian purposes, many also have ritual uses. As well as their customary use, many items are produced specifically for sale to the tourist market.
Many excellent contemporary artworks are available for sale. The best place to buy them is either directly from the communities' art centres or from galleries that are owned and operated by indigenous communities. Reputable galleries are usually members of the Australian Commercial Galleries Association (ACGA). Buying indigenous art in this way promotes an autonomous and authentic arts industry for Aboriginal Australians.
