Aboriginal art

The 40,000-year-old tribal art that thrived in Australia has much in common with that of our own. Like most tribal art, it is rooted in an understating of humankind’s relationship with the land, animals and plants around their natural habitat. Interestingly, even though it is not plausible that these tribes had any direct contact with each other, there is a similar approach in rendering form, the sacred and ritualistic use of the drawing as well as the bright colour schemes that are common to most tribal art.

The individual character of Aboriginal art lies in its depiction of the Western Desert region of Australia, its social activities, material culture, economy, environmental change, myth and religion. Creation myths, hunting scenes, dream sequences, diagrams of animals that look not just at their outward appearance, but also allude to their bone-structure and muscles, show a great understanding of life around them. It even records the arrival of the early colonisers with guns and boats entering the narrative of the artists.

The surviving Aboriginal artists of today have learned to market their art—which was hitherto used for a sacred purpose and rendered on rocky cave surfaces. Painted with natural dies, minerals and fruit extracts, they are now collected as a holiday souvenir. Today, Aboriginal artists have learnt to use acrylic paints and come up with startling colourful creations. Some of them adorn mugs and tee-shirts. But what keeps the aboriginal artists busy these days is leaving their marks on boomerangs.

Demystify art, e-mail georgina.maddox@expressindia.com