Indigenous Art of the Dreamtime
Introduction
More Than You Will Ever Know
Each of the paintings in this exhibition relates a story. Most of the stories contain more
than you will ever know.
Australian Aboriginal people have no literary tradition. Accordingly, they’re tribal
records, accounts of routine daily life and stories of their creation ancestors, have
necessarily been told through dancing, chanting, singing and painting.
Since time began all races and cultures have employed the story as a vehicle for the
dissemination and perpetuation of knowledge. Information, profound beliefs and
philosophies have been passed on through subjective accounts (history), fiction, legends
and myths. In Aboriginal Australia, countless generations have handed down stories now
over a period which anthropologists claim could be as extensive as 50,000 years.
Discussing Aboriginal art, the author James Cowan has pointed out, ‘We must be wary
of observing the painting in isolation from its mythological content’. This is sound
advice. There is a strong temptation to relate to these paintings on their obvious
aesthetic appeal alone. To do so would be to miss more than the point and content of the
work. Its foundation is the story. The power of the work lies in its narrative and in the
possibility for the artist to bring his or her ‘dreaming’ (story) up from that
indefinable period the Aboriginals call Jurkupa (Dreamtime) and into the present. The
accumulated wisdom and knowledge of 50,000 years may come with the painting. Even a simple
food- gathering painting relays information about an age-old custom, gender role or way of
life that is essential to survival or basic comfort in the harsh desert regions to the
west and north of Alice Springs in central Australia. To criticise a painting is to
criticise the artist’s story, set of beliefs or way of life.
Jurkurpa or the ‘Dreaming’ is not a concept that is easily explained. It is both
spiritual and pragmatic and takes both different names and slightly different meanings in
various areas of the desert. ‘The Dreaming’ and ‘Dreamtime’ are
European terms that have come to represent the spiritual, natural and moral order of the
cosmos. The terms do not refer to the European concept of dreaming or any state of
unreality. Indeed, for the Aboriginal Jurkupa refers to a state of reality both now and in
a time beyond living memory. There is no word in Aboriginal language for ‘art’
or ‘artist’; what they made in the sand and what they make now on canvas is
real. It is not artifice.
Road to Papunya, Northern Territory, Australia
In the central and western deserts (the places of origin
for works in this exhibition) Jurkupa focuses on creation ancestors known as the Tingari.
During the period of creation the Tingari roamed the desert and created all the
geographical features of the landscape. So many desert paintings that we see to this day
recount the creative travels of Tingari ancestors.
2. Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula Spear and Tingari 1998 128 x 92.5cm
Prior to the Jurkupa none of the natural features of the
and existed. Ancestral beings in the form of gigantic animals or humans travelled across
the land performing feats of creation. They left their marks, and in some cases
themselves, in the form of hills, mountains, waterholes, rocks and other topographical
features. These often figure in contemporary images of an individual’s
‘dreamings’. Furthermore, marriage rules, religious ceremonies, food taboos and
other laws of social and community behaviour were created in the Jurkupa.
Ceremonies are still performed which celebrate ancestral travels and creation and epic
song-cycles record the actual pathways taken by those supernatural beings. The invisible
pathways or tracks are known as ‘song lines’. Initiated men, having learned the
ceremonies, legends and designs connected with their ancestors, are able to navigate many
thousands of kilometres through the desert by reciting the information contained in the
song-cycles. In following these ancient tracks, Aboriginals believe that they are paying
tribute to their creators and strengthening both their belief in and knowledge of the
natural world created in the Jurkupa. There is no one overall drawn map of the ‘song
lines’ but if one did exist Australia would be criss-crossed in every direction with
interlocking marks representing epic creation journeys made in a time before memory.
Modern-day Aboriginals rest along the way just as their creation ancestors did in the
Jurkupa. Paintings and stories often describe such resting places in as much detail as
would be given for a significant topographical creation such as a mountain or river.
Aboriginal devotion to the land is captured by an often used phrase; ‘nothing is
nothing’. Put another way, everything, no matter how tiny or apparently
insignificant, has a purpose and place in life.
Song-cycles are rich in detail and the stories and myths they encompass provide one of the
bases for that desert art which is of a sacred nature.
Given that Aboriginals had no form of writing, their ‘history’ is bound up in an
intricate combination of storytelling, singing and dancing in ceremonies which we know as
corroborees. More individual expression often comes from tribal elders, and other
responsible people, in the form of painting.
We see then that paintings may be centred on a place - a site in the landscape. Such a
place is often characterised by a physical feature that may represent the creative
ancestor at the time of its formation and the living presence of the Jurkupa within that
physical feature today. A perfect example of this phenomenon in Ayers Rock (Uluru) in
central Australia. The creative essence remains forever within the landscape and its
formations.
One is tempted to search further into the details of such a fascinating concept. However,
such information is available only to fully initiated men who have learned secret rituals,
ceremonies and song-cycles. They alone are the keepers of the secrets and the information
remains in a realm of non- disclosure to any outsiders. In reflecting upon and reproducing
their ancestry and culture the Australian Aboriginals are pursuing the
‘Dreaming’.
Red Hill, Northern Territory, Australia
Following are two ‘dreamings’, one belonging to
Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula and the other to Gabriella Possum.
3. Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula Spear Dreaming 1998
This is one of Turkey’s major dreamings and a source
for much of his imagery.
During mythological times a group of men camped at the site of Ilyingaugau near the secret
cave site of Mitukatjirri, south east of the present-day Kintore community. The dotted
lines through this work represent the artist’s country where the spears are collected
and the area where this confrontation took place. The painting also represents the spears
which the men are straightening. This is done by slightly warming the spear over a fire
and straightening it while it is warm. These men were preparing their spears when they
heard of a possible confrontation with a group of men from the Tjikari area further to the
north. This confrontation went on for many years because the Aboriginals adopted a payback
system to honour those who were killed or injured during the fighting.
48. Gabriella Possum Nungarrayi Milky Way Dreaming 1998
In Aboriginal life where people sleep under the stars with
little shelter, the night sky is enthralling and dominating. Those people in the desert
are aware of nearly every star in the heavens and most of these stars have stories
associated with their origins. All over Australia, it is believed that the stars and
planets were once men, women and animals in the Creation time.
The Milky Way with all its soft glowing stars and dark starless patches is a place with
many landmarks for the Aboriginal people. The Milky Way is considered by the Aboriginals
as a visual representation of the microcosmic system within each person. Tracking the
inner self is knowing the pathways of the Milky Way. Those pathways remain esoteric and
can only be released by the artist during ritual. The Milky Way is sacred as a residence
for the totemic beings.
A Jakamarra man is pursuing seven Sisters (the cluster of seven stars in the constellation
Taurus, known as Pleiades). The Morning Star is in Orion’s belt. The story tells of
the women, who, in a final attempt to escape Jakamarra, turn into fire at Kurlunyalimpa
and ascend the heavens to become stars. This dreaming is closely associated with
men’s secret ceremonies. The colours in this painting reflect the night sky looking
through the clouds and lightning onto the Milky Way with its brilliant glow.
Australian Aboriginal art is now in its fifty thousandth year! Yet the works in this
exhibition will demonstrate a phenomenon which is astonishing in its con- temporaneity.
How can something so old satisfy the western world’s twin demands of late twentieth
century art - originality coupled with intellectual rigour?
Desert art from central Australia has been doing just that for the past three decades and
has assumed the mantle of this country’s outstanding and most innovatory contemporary
visual art form.
Although the signs, symbols and mythologies which underpin these paintings are many
thousands of years old, desert art in this form - acrylic paint on canvas - had its
beginnings as recently as 1971 in a small Federal Government settlement named Papunya, 240
kilometres to the west of Alice Springs.
Through the 1950’s and 1960’s it became apparent that tribal Aboriginals from
the desert regions were threatened with constant hunger and severe health problems. At
worst it was feared they faced extinction. Five separate tribes were brought together at
Papunya and settled side by side in a way that was never going to be harmonious or
successful. Nevertheless, people there were well fed and cared for and the children had
newfound opportunities for education. One of the schoolteachers there, Geoff Bardon,
encouraged painting amongst both the children under his care and the adults who were
interested. Bardon had seen designs and patterns being made in the sand of the schoolyard
and elsewhere. He realised that he was seeing something of ethnographic and artistic value
and encouraged the notion of making the designs permanent by handing out paper, pieces of
board and brushes. Gradually and somewhat reluctantly a group of the elders began to paint
and Bardon later marketed their works in Alice Springs. Because of the striking nature of
the designs and the ‘purity’ of their origins these works appealed and sales
gathered pace.
Old Papunya painting shed
Subsequent teachers at Papunya continued to nurture the
painting movement and as a natural progression canvas and acrylic paints were eventually
introduced. The paints particularly set the imagination free. When painting began there
natural ochres (red and yellow) plus charcoal (black) and clay (white) were the colours
available. Each of those had traditional meanings and connotations for the tribal men.
However, with the introduction of acrylic paints came a wide-ranging choice and a freedom
never yet experienced. Unexpectedly, and quite suddenly, the realisation came that the
Papunya painters had a marvellous sense of colour - some of their paintings glowed with
rich combinations that might have sprung up from the desert itself. Others, such as those
by Johnny Warangkula when he depicted the after-effects of rain falling on his country,
displayed subtleties that delighted the eye and the senses.
Some of the artists represented here (Billy Stockman, Johnny Warangkula, Clifford Possum,
Mick Namarari, and Turkey Tolson) were at Papunya when that desert art
‘movement’ began. Consequently their paintings - particularly early pieces -
have taken on important historical significance and are now eagerly sought by collectors
the world over. During the past eighteen months paintings by Billy Stockman and Johnny
Warangkula have each brought more than A$200,000 at auction in Australia.
Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri
After the rather humble beginnings of this ‘painting
mob’ at Papunya, something of a ‘domino’ effect occurred whereby other
Aboriginal communities in the central and western deserts of Australia adopted and
developed the new techniques to tell their own regional and personal stories and
dreamings.
Today there are some 10,000 Aboriginal painters at work, and with improved communications
and travel the movement is centred on Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. In capital
cities throughout Australia specialist galleries now cater for a $100,000 million per year
turnover in Aboriginal art and artefacts. Prominent among those galleries are Aboriginal
Art Galleries of Australia in Melbourne, Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery in Alice Springs
and Jinta Desert Art in Sydney. The Hollow family is closely associated with each of these
galleries, the patriarch being German-born Michael Hollow in Alice Springs who has
developed a deep understanding of the indigenous culture. He is widely known and respected
by the Aboriginal artists and for many years has ventured into the desert to meet them on
their own terms. The majority of the paintings in this exhibition have come through his
hands directly from the artists themselves. In a similar way, Melbourne-based curator,
Maryanne Hollow, has had much face-to-face contact with the desert painters.
Maryanne Hollow with Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri,
Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery, Alice Springs
Many of the painters live in far-flung, isolated desert
communities although surprisingly some have travelled widely. Clifford Possum
Tjapaltjarri, for example, has been in many countries around the world and delights in
telling the story of how he met Queen Elizabeth in London. Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri and
Michael Nelson Tjakamarra gained a great deal of pleasure and experience from performing
dances and making large sand paintings for American audiences in 1988 during the
exhibition ‘Dreamings, the Art of Aboriginal Australia’ at the Asia Society
Galleries in New York.
4. Johnny Warangkula Kulwa Water Bird Dreaming 1999 91 x 61cm
In the current exhibition we see a concentration on one
aspect of Aboriginal art - the fascinating desert style which grew originally from ancient
works made in the sand and produced by using blood, feathers, grass and other organic
materials. The fact that sand paintings were indeed quite large and the result of group
efforts meant that there was a certain level of need to adhere to the ‘script’.
Improvisation and expression had no part in these seminal works or, by extension, in the
early boards and canvasses produced at Papunya and elsewhere. This no longer holds true
except in the ceremonial situation. There is now a far greater opportunity for
self-expression.
5. Emily Kame Kngwarreye My Country-Wild Blossoms 1995 98 x 90cm
The phenomenal success of Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Ronnie
Tjampitjinpa and Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula for example, as painters’ rather than
as ‘Aboriginal artists’, has demonstrated to all that individuality and style
are factors to be embraced. Whilst modern materials are now used the paintings have lost
none of their authenticity and may be read like maps. Most are meant to be seen from an
aerial viewpoint looking down.
Emily painting, Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery studio,
Alice springs, 1994
There have been some astonishing comparisons made between
this art and painters as diverse as Claude Monet and Jackson Pollock. The latter is often
linked to the amazing work of Emily Kame Kngwarreye who lived some 300km to the north west
of Alice Springs in an isolated community named Utopia. The world seems to agree that
Emily, who only began painting in her 80’s, was for a brief eight years a blazing
star in the contemporary art world. She had never heard of, much less seen the work of
Pollock, yet her paintings were as personal and as energy-charged as those of the New York
master. She, like all the artists in this exhibition, drew her inspiration from a pure
spiritual relationship with the land and the mythologies she always knew existed therein.
She had, in fact, painted for most of her adult life: not with acrylic on canvas, but with
ochre and clay on the bodies of her tribeswomen preparing for ceremonies.
Ceremony, Yuendumu Sports Festival
Old Napperby Road, from Mt Allan to Napperby
During the past decade in Australia Aboriginal women
artists have emerged as a positive force. This claim is backed by a cursory glance at the
catalogue for this exhibition. Maryanne Hollow has selected an effective and
representative range of female artists to grace the New York display. Apart from Emily we
see wonderful works by Ada Bird Petyarre and Josie Petrick, from Utopia, Gabriella Possum
(Clifford’s daughter) now resident in Melbourne, Eunice Napangardi and Pansy
Napangardi, residents of Alice Springs.
Lorna Fencer Napurrurlla, although now close to seventy years of age, is considered by
many to be a rising star of the Aboriginal art world. She has developed several different
painting styles, one of which is deliberately free flowing and linear. Lorna lives at
Lajamanu in the northern part of the Tanami desert. Each of the women paints several
different dreamings. Some of these are based on ceremonial body designs while others are
based on water and food-gathering stories. In recent times art making has become extremely
important to Aboriginal women in both the cultural and economic sense.
One should consider Aboriginal art to be didactic and therefore inseparable from other
aspects of daily life. Indeed when these works are painted now the children are invariably
invited to attend. From the paintings they learn the basics of the dreamings that will be
theirs in the future. They learn also the dreamings of their parents and grandparents and
beyond them to distant generations extending into the darkness of the beginnings of time.
In modern times too they are learning about the economic support which is available to
them through the only ‘industry’ they know.... painting. However, it is the
stories, told and re-told through the centuries, that set this art apart. Their stories
also set these people apart from other races and cultures. At the end of the millennium
Aboriginal heritage and dignity is, in many instances, maintained through the production
of art and although market forces have had an undeniable effect during the last decade we
find that there is an adherence to ethical principals because of the stories contained
therein. An understanding of these paintings and their attendant stories may provide you
with a means to penetrate an exotic and ancient culture. This exhibition offers that
opportunity. It also offers you a stunning and unique visual experience. But please
don’t leave your investigations at that point.
If you are seeing Australian Aboriginal Desert art for the first time you should be aware
that you are witnessing a superb collection of works by acknowledged masters of this
genre. If you are re-visiting this form of art then no doubt you have been drawn back by
the notion that these artists permit their work to operate on aesthetic, ethical and
spiritual planes which have been rare in any form of the visual arts, in any part of the
world, during this century.
Dr. Garry Darby*, July 1999.
* Dr Garry Darby lectures in Art History at the University of Sydney
For further information contact
Melbourne gallery
Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia
31 Flinders Lane Melbourne 3000
Maryanne Hollow, Director
ph 61 3 9654 2516
fx 61 3 9654 3534
e-mail aaga@surfnetcity.com.au
Jinta Desert Art Gallery
120 Clarence Street Sydney 2000
Natalie Hollow and Semon Deeb, Directors
ph 61 2 9290 3639
fx 61 2 9290 3631
e-mail Art@jintaart.com.au
Internet homepage
http://www.jintaart.com.au
Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery
87 Todd Mall Alice Springs 0870
Michael Hollow and Shirley Hollow, Directors
ph 61 8 8953 1005
fx 61 8 8952 8915 |