Strolling through the streets of Alice Springs I was struck by traditional art exhibits – how different this art form was from elsewhere in the world. On gazing hard and reading about it, I realized what a beautiful visual language it was, an imagery that was part of aboriginal life – a connection between their past and present, the supernatural and mundane.
Aboriginal art was first appreciated by the white Australian sometime on the 1940’s when debutant artist Albert Namatjira’s water color paintings took the Australian art market by storm.
In 1971, Geoffrey Bardon, a non-aboriginal teacher at Paunya School in Central Australia aroused interest among aboriginal elders of the community in putting up a traditional mural on one of the school walls. Jack Phillipus and Billy Stockman Jlapaltjarra, working as groundsmen at Papunya School were encouraged to commence the project. Shortly after work began, other members of the community became enthusiastic and joined in, creating a mural named ‘Honey Art Dreaming’. Due to then government’s regulations, the mural was destroyed but it sowed the seeds of propounding aboriginal art. From this quiet beginning in a remote aboriginal community one of the most important art movements of the late 20th century grew, followed by development of Papunya Tula Company, an Australian art gallery focusing on both economic and cultural activities – an association that helped artists’ sell their work.
The ‘Papunya Art Gallery’ intrigued me the most. As I entered I saw the most ancient representation of the aboriginal art – the dot. and bark paintings. Wet, stripped bark sheets are dried for a couple of days and then pressed by heavy logs of wood to prevent from curing, before painting on them. These exhibited indigenous folklore in symbolic form using earthy colors. Then there are the oversized trumpets called didgeridoos and boomerangs fashioned from native trees all decorated with aboriginal art. I learned that bark paintings were traditionally prepared as an accompaniment to sculptures and carvings for religious ceremonies. They only had life and significance during the ceremony and were subsequently discarded or hidden away. Bark paintings as a salable art form became established only around the 1960’s.
Dot paintings are the traditional visual art forms; patterns that are created from small dots of paint, which cover the entire surface of the paining. These dot patterns, many of which are symbols, are easily recognized by those familiar with the legends and stories they illustrate. Symbols for campfires, walking paths, animal tracks, fertile soil for wild yams, and water sources are common elements of aboriginal paintings each created in colored dots. Bright colors have become more common, but traditional dot painters used pigments made from natural materials, giving their paintings an earth-toned palette. The dot paintings made by aboriginal people of the central desert are based on a thousand-year-old tradition of sand painting. Therefore, there is no ‘right’ way to view the piece: no horizontal, no vertical, no up or down. This art may be hung any way that the viewer wishes, even placed flat, which was the artist’s perspective when it was painted.
Apart from these two main formats, the cave paintings are the most common form of aboriginal fixed art. This medium gave artists considerably more scope than the laborious techniques of rock engraving. Again the pigments were all earthy colors – natural ochers of red, yellow, white pipeclay, black manganese oxide or if not available, crushed charcoal and charred bark. Most pigments were obtained locally or by barter. The artist’s palette was a flat stone on which the hard pigments were ground to a powder, then mixed with water or natural fixates such as emu fat, eggs of the sea going turtle, wax and honey of the wild bee and sap from orchids.
One of the most fascinating aspects of aboriginal art is their concept of ‘dreamtime art’. The head of each aboriginal tribe or clan is an elder who illustrates in a story form a mythological figure typical to his or her clan. stories are woven around this figure and passed down verbally generation after generation. This figure is extensively illustrated in that tribe’s art for giving rise tp their ‘dreamtime art’.
Present day galleries in Australia have capitalized this art form, a heritage that they can call ‘Genuinely Australian’. Quoted market values for this once ‘disregarded native scribble’ roll easily into thousands of dollars today. I for one with my penchant for any art was most intrigued by this strange art form and hope to spread awareness of its uniqueness and beauty to the rest of the world through this blog post.
Life Is Like That! 