Australian Aboriginal Art

Who are the Aborigines?• Aborigine means “native”• Original people of Australia• Traveled in canoes from SE Asia • Lived there at least 40,000 years

as the only people• Developed unique beliefs about

creation• Survived as hunters and observers • Many died from disease or starved

when their land was taken from them by the Europeans in the 1770s

What is Aboriginal Art?• Last traditional art form to be

appreciated • To understand Aboriginal Art we first

need to learn about Dreamtime• Dreamtime refers to their beliefs of

how the land and its people were created

• Believed supernatural beings with magical powers created the land’s features, animals and plants during dreamtime

• Art is a way to stay in touch with their ancestry and be a part of the natural world

• Passed down through generations by word of mouth

• Artworks depict deep meaning told through dreamtime stories

• Basis of value and belief system, affects their interaction with the land and animals

• Land is sacred because it contains their heritage, history, and powerful ancestors or spirits

Dreamtime Stories

In Aboriginal culture everyone is an artist because everyone participates in activities such as dancing, singing, body decoration, sand drawing and weaving baskets.

• Unique subject matter and style• Known for their rock paintings,

bark paintings, sand (or dot paintings), and body decoration

• Brushes made from bark, plant fibers, twigs, hair or feathers

• Also used fingers or sticks to paint • Used natural ochers (minerals) or

clay to make red, yellow, and white paint

• Black was made from charcoal

How did Aboriginals create art?

Aboriginal Rock Art• Longest

continuously practiced artistic tradition in the world.

• Ubirr, located in North Australia, has very impressive rock paintings.

"One old man in Arnhem Land remembered being carried as a child on his father's shoulders as his father climbed up a log leaning against a rock wall. His father then sprayed his hand with red ochre against the rock, leaving a stencil he could still recognize many years later. The main function of the stencils was to record people's presence and association with a site."

   

 

How are these two paintings similar? How are they different?

Bark Painting • Tradition for thousands of years• Bark is cut into a rectangle, after the

wet season, when it’s soft• Placed on warm coals, pressed flat

with weights and sticks tied to both ends with string

• Painted with natural pigments mixed with a natural fixative: sticky gum from trees

• Style is similar to rock paintings and illustrates stories

• Painted on bark for ceremonies, burials, and everyday objects such as baskets and belts

• Traditional dot paintings were made in sand

• Contemporary dot paintings are on canvas with acrylic paint

• Depict a story using Aboriginal symbols

• When you understand the symbols it gives a whole new meaning to a dot painting

Dot Painting

• Aboriginals used symbols to represent natural surroundings.

• They are shown as tracks left in the ground and look like they are seen from a plane.

• Represent recent tracks left by animals or tracks made in the past by ancestors.

Thunder & Lightening

Kangaroo tracks & tail

Goanna (lizard) dragging tail, footprints on side

Emu

Frogs (black)Water holes (blue)

Footprints

Snakes Men Hunting Women’s Ceremony

• Developed around 2000 B.C.• Found in shallow caves or rock shelters particularly in

Western and Northern Australia• Simple exterior animal shapes that depict internal

organs, bone structure (ribs, back bone), or baby animal inside

• Created by painting the animal’s silhouette in white and using red or yellow for the inside

X-Ray Style Painting

• Contemporary artists continue to paint in X-Ray tradition

Body Decoration• Traditional practice for ceremonies• Includes scarring, smeared clay or

ochres on face, wearing ornaments and headdress

• Deep spiritual significance• Geometric designs• Use respected patterns of an

ancestor to take on their living appearance

• Designs may also reflect their role in the family or important role in their community

Resources:• Carol, Finley. Aboriginal Art of Australia. Lerner Publications Company,

Minneapolis: 1999.• Petersen, David. Australia. Children’s Press, New York: 1998.• http://66.113.241.131/lessons/envs/live/htdocs/lesson107.htm• http://www.bardaglea.org.uk/aboriginal/index.html• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/xray/hd_xray.htm• http://www.astonmanor.bham.sch.uk/learningzone/art/movements/

aboriginal/aboriginalart.htm• http://goaustralia.about.com/library/graphics/tjapukai1.jpg• http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/body.php• http://www.bvdrangs.com/dreamtime.html• http://www.aboriginal-art.com/desert_art_toc.html• http://www.dickblick.com/multicultural/aboriginal/• http://people.hws.edu/mitchell/oz/Carnarvon96.html#Art• www.lclark.edu