Australian Aboriginal Art

The Aboriginal people of Australia are one of the oldest groups of people in the world. It is said that the natives of Australia have been there for all most 70,000 years. The name Aboriginal was given to the natives when English colonists came to settle and develop Australia. The word means "the originals". 

 The people of Australia developed three main art forms. The first was used almost 70,000 years ago. It was the creation of rock paintings. Like those of France and Spain, the Aboriginal people created paintings on rocks instead of caves. The paintings did not stop at rocks. They also used the backs of the bark from the Eucalyptus tree to create small, more portable paintings. These paintings have been called the Dreamtime. This Dreamtime is said to be the creation story, for the Aboriginal people. These paintings of birds telling kangaroos of a hunter or large fish were said to have possessed magical powers. If you painted picture of large bountiful catches of fish, that's what you would receive. These works were said to be a part of ceremonial process. The natives used paints made from Ocher, a hard iron-oxide substance and other natural pigments. For their brushes they used sticks.

The second form is a dot like form, similar to Seurat, who painted also using small dots. The National Museum of Australian Art  tells us that, "The works feature a symbolic language of U shapes, concentric circles, journey lines and bird and animal tracks." These patterns in the art are extremely detailed, colorful, and time consuming. 

The third art form is the painting of faces and bodies of the Aboriginal people. This art form is clearly beyond the European tradition. The painting of the human body is seen in numerous other native societies such as the Americans of North, Central  and South America. According to Indigenous In-style,a Australian blog,"Some different types of Australian Aboriginal art that are particularly used to decorate the body include scars, feathers, ornaments, face paint, and body paint. Symbols are heavily used and can denote many things about the person who uses it. Body painting is often used to tell a story." The symbolism involved in creating and telling a story on a human body takes much time and patience.( Below are some commonly used symbols) For more infomation check out this video: National Geographic Rock Art