The Other, Other

Jason Wing, 2010, Self Portrait, acrylic paint and cement.

Source: Tandanya

"WOW" is definitely the word for Jason Wing's "The Other, Other" exhibition in Tandanya. Yes, I know that this is probably my third visit to Tandaya but the works displayed there never cease to amaze me. Their changing collection of works over the past few months have not failed once to introduce me to the diversity and richness of Aboriginal art and culture. The different exhibitions have truly inspired me and revealed a whole new dimension of art I once knew so little about and have come to appreciate and respect.


In addition to my ongoing journey of learning more about Aboriginal art, Jason Wing's exhibition is definitely another highlight.

My show explores the issues of cultural identity and aims to challange the stereotypes of what is generally perceived to be "Aboriginal." I used my Chinese, Aboriginal and Australian perspective to comment on current social and political issues, through sculptures, intallations and paintings. (1) 

- Jason Wing

Spirit in the Land

Spirit In the Land Exhibition

Source: Nets Victoria

As I haven't written about my trip to the Flinder's Gallery exhibition called "Spirit of the Land" I went to a while ago (Actually part of our week 5 task), I thought I'd spend some time today writing a bit of what I saw there. So, as the title of the exhibition gives away, the works displayed in the gallery was an amazing collection of artworks, ranging from paintings to sculptural works, of 11 Australian artists, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, expressing their own unique voice and connection they have with with the land we call Australia. What I thought was most interesting of this exhibition was the ability  to see side by side the works of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists depicting a similar theme which allows us to compare and contrast the perspectives these individuals have with the land - what the land means to each person? what their connection is and in what ways does the land inspire them? Moreover, considering the contrasting views of early European settlers with the Aboriginal people during the colonisation era, going to this exhibition I thought would help me discover myself these different perspectives and also see whether or not non-Aboriginal people have any connection to the land like Aboriginal people do? Or do non-Aboriginal people only see Australia as an empty land on which to build or to invest upon, which I've talked about in my "Old Country, New Country" post on a short video I watched about about the different ways Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal see the land.

Cross-cultural collaboration

Source: Mel B

I'm back again with another interesting topic of the week: Cross-culture collaboration. Unlike our discussions which normally evolve around the separation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultures and perspectives, this week was a more positive outlook. Over the years, many cross-cultural collaborations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have occurred - this was shown through several examples in the lecture including the mosaic in front of the Parliament house in Canberra, representing Australia prior to the European settlement, as well as integration of Aboriginal art within the architecture of Musee du quai Branly in France. Even the several sights I wrote about in "Tourist for a Day" around Adelaide I think serves for a similar purpose. As part of reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, these works of art represent an important symbol of how the contemporary society has moved on since the times of colonisation and also as a sign acknowledging Aboriginal art and that Aboriginal people are the traditional owners of the land. It shows a coming together of two cultures, embracing each other and especially giving back the recognition and respect to Aboriginal people what was once stripped away from them - these works each represent a positive step in coming closer to a society and world that upholds equality and celebrates its diverse and unique cultures.

Three boys. One Skin. One dream.

Source: SBS

Preparing for "catching-up" time over the study break, I decided to borrow several Aboriginal dvds from the library which I thought would be interesting. Maybe a bit too overambitious by borrowing 4 dvds at one go, I only ended up watching two. The first one was "First Australians," which you can read about in one of my previous posts, and I just finished watching the second one called "Yolngu Boy." Being someone who loves watching movies, Yolngu boy was another beautifully narrated and eye-opening movie with some very intersting themes.

If I was White

If I was White

The world would make

more sense to me

If I was White

I could walk down the street

and people would pay no particular

attention to me.

It may not seem like much

but if you've ever had a

shopkeeper tell you to

Buy something move or move on, or

simple follow you around the shop,

it's significant.

If I was White

I could go to church

and Jesus Christ would

look like me.

Imagine Christ images all the over

world being black.

If I was White

I wouldn't be asked if I was

Fullblood, Half-caste or part White.

If I was White

I could say This land

has been in my family

for three generations

If I was White

I could say My family

have lived on this loand

for two hudnreed years

If I was White

I could say My father worked hard

to buy this land.

If I was White

I would not hear other White People

say to me you don't look like you

have a lot of White in you, or

You don't look White.

If I was White

My fair skin

would not be such an issue

with other White People.

But I am Black

and I am as musunderstood

as the next Blackfella

But I am beginning to understand the White Man. (1)

Vernon Ah Kee

Women and painting

Photo by aia web team

Several times I've heard in the lecture that Aboriginal women only started to paint recently and it was again brought up by Nici Cumpston, our guest speaker, yesterday...and since I had a couple of hours to spare today I decided to do my own little research about it, finding out what it's really about? Were Aboriginal women not allowed to paint? What happened that caused this change?

sights and sites

Nici Cumpston, Ringbarked 2008, archival print on canvas, hand-coloured with pencil and watercolour.

Source: Unisa

Uni's started again this week! No more time for lazing around but time to work, work, work! Especially since there's only 4 more weeks left! I really can't imagine how fast this semester has gone by. Nonetheless, as always this week was another interesting week in learning a bit more about Aboriginal art. In today's lecture, we had a guest speaker: Nici Cumpston, a Barakunji woman whose family originated in the broken Hill region who is both an artist and curator...and actually also the person who wrote this course! She gave us a very nice presentation about both of her role in curating an exhibition called "Desert Country" as well as about her own artworks. It was definitely a change of scene from the usual lecture slides and also interesting in being able to hear an Aboriginal artist speak personally about what their work is about.

"We came from the desert"

Left. Tarku Rosie King, Jumu Pinti Lake, 2011. 

Right. Daisy Japulija, Soak Water, 2010. 

Source: Tandanya

Taking advantage of the last few days of the study break, I decided to visit the Tandanya museum today. Little did I know, I should have checked their website before coming in as most of the exhibition area was closed off for a new exhibition opening tomorrow. Nevertheless, with the amazing artworks of the Mangkaja Arts, my visit to Tandanya proved to be once again an inspirational experience. Their exhibition was absolutely fascinating. If I had to describe the exhibition, I think it would be like entering into a candy-coloured world full of beautiful landscapes.

First Australians

Photo by katyhutch

Since it was mentioned in class and also suggested to me by one of the Dymocks staff when researching for the first assignment, I decided to buy the First Australians DVD this morning. It's supposed to be a really comprehensive documentary about the history of Aboriginal people since the colonisation period and so I thought it would be a good dvd worth watching for this course. I started watching the first part this afternoon and although  it was longer than suspected, it was really insightful and also enjoyable especially as the documentary was really narrative in the way it was presented, so you felt like you were being told a story instead of being given information after information. The paintings and quotes of several European settlers at that time also gave the documentary some depth and it was far from being boring at all, it was really nice to have pictures accompanying the "story."

Tourist for a day

photo by Ed Yourdon

So I walked to uni this morning and  decided to start my own little tour of commemorative Aboriginal plaques, artworks and places of interest I saw in the Adelaide city council pamphlet. Anyways, just wanted to share some photographs I took and interesting facts of these different places around the city.

100 years old...

photo by Dey

Being my second time to the State gallery this morning, it was actually a quite different experience. Rather than looking at everything at a glance, this time I actually took the time to really look and read the details of the artworks, especially focusing on those depicting Aboriginal people and those made by them. There were various artworks, ranging from paintings, silver work to sculptures made by the past European settlers to those made by Aboriginal people, such as bark paintings, baskets, shields, grave poles to shell necklaces. When I was standing in the gallery in front of one of the bark paintings, it suddenly strike me that I was actually standing in front of something that has been made some 100 years ago. It almost seemed surreal. Seeing Aboriginal artworks firsthand is really a different experience than just looking at photographs of them in books or on the Internet. Sometimes when learning this subject, it almost feels that it's in the past or untouchable but the Aboriginal culture actually still a living culture today and by looking at these art works it really made me realize that.

Another thing that I found interesting were the paintings made by some of the settlers. It was as if you were looking at Aboriginal people through their point of view and you actually get a glimpse of how it was in the past, especially in some paintings where the images just look like a photograph. On the other hand, some of the paintings also looked observatory, which I guess links to how many of the artworks depicting Aboriginal people were considered as ethnographic memento of what they thought was a disappearing race. Also following how Aboriginal work were considered more as artifacts rather than artworks, I realized that most of Aboriginal artworks in the gallery were unknown. However, there were some that were named too, such as one artwork made by Albert Namatjira, the famous Aboriginal artist who paints the beautiful watercolor inspired landscapes we saw in the lecture. This time, instead of a canvas he actually painted a small picture of a landscape on a wooden object called a woomera, which is said to be a spear thrower or used to make fire. Pretty interesting indeed.

Getting around the whole gallery this time definitely took longer that I almost lost track of time but overall I thought it was quite fun - like a little gallery exploration. I think going to a gallery really allows you to focus on the art work and gives you a different perspective of it and considering my lack of gallery visits...I should really catch up during this study break!

It's alive!

Fishes have cross-hatching details

Lin Onus, Guyi Buypuru, 1996. © The Estate of Lin Onus

Photo source: Australian Fine Art Edition

Having not being to attend the lecture and tutorial in week 4, I thought that it would be good for me to catch up on what I missed. I read the article about “Lin Onus: Picturing histories speaking politics,” over again, looked on the Internet for some Yvonne Koolmatrie artworks and this time tried to answer the tutorial questions by myself. While it was different answering the questions on my own and not hearing other people’s point of view, it really did get me thinking and reflect on the things I’ve learned so far. So..here we go…

Yvonne Koolmatrie, Bi-plane, 1994. © National Gallery of Australia

Photo source: abc

When you look at Lin Onus and Yvonne Koolmatrie artworks, you can immediately notice that they have such a distinguished visual language and style. It’s quite different to what we have come to known as traditional Aboriginal art. Instead, these two artists combine the traditional and the contemporary together and by doing so they reveal a different side to Aboriginal art. I really believe that their works are about the reinvention of culture instead about the loss of it because their artworks, as you can see, still revolve around the same beliefs and represent the very same culture. The essence has not changed while the form may be different. Even having the symbolisms of traditional practices such as weaving and the cross hatching within this contemporary looking artworks, I think reveals that it’s certainly not lost but very much alive. I believe in fact that it highlights the exact opposite.

Thinking back on past tutorial discussions from the second week, I think we have already come across this issue about whether the changes happening to Aboriginal art – of it transforming “away” from its traditional form means that it is less authentic or that culture is lost. However, how can culture be lost or how is it less authentic when the essence of the artworks is still very much the same? Only the surface is different - the way that it is represented. Is it because we have been too accustomed to seeing Aboriginal art in its “traditional form” that we limit ourselves in seeing it in different ways and thus consider it to be less authentic? However, I think like any other artist or forms of art, people’s style and way of representation will always evolve over time. As a non-Aboriginal person, I also think that it should be the right or it is the Aboriginal artist’s part in having the choice to define their own culture, instead of non-Aboriginal people doing that for them.

Any ways, while this topic of authenticity and progress of Aboriginal art seems interesting, I’ll reserve that for another post before I start going off track. So going back to the tutorial question…I think by using the traditional forms like the weaving and cross hatching in the contemporary urban context, it really brings Aboriginal culture to live by creating a link between the past and the present. Aboriginal culture is alive and it's real. It shows that Aboriginal culture is not something in the past or an old, ancient culture but it still exists and lives today within our very own society. I think it really does highlight the continuity of the Aboriginal culture and beliefs.

Pointless?

Photo by Ed Yourdon

Another week, another tutorial topic...and this week it was a debate, which was a quite interesting one. Well, even though it was more like a "two point-perspective discussion" if you can call it that, since no one really leaned towards one side of the argument or the other. Nevertheless it really brought up some  thought-provoking points about whether it is pointless for non-Aboriginal people to buy and hang Aboriginal art on their walls since we can never understand the true meaning of the work.

Batik

Batik making by Bryony Taylor

As soon as I heard the word batik in the lecture, it instantly grabbed my attention. Wow, there's a connection between Indonesian and Aboriginal art and it really brought back some memories from back home and those days in primary school when we had a school excursion to a batik making place. We got to see how batik was made; using stamps or a pen-like instrument called canting to apply the wax on fabric, then dipping it into colourful dyes and washing it to reveal the beautiful designs. I can still remember the rich smell of the wax and how hot it was in the factory. But was most most memorable I think was having the opportunity in the end to make our own "batik" designs, which mine was of course a picture of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet having a cup of tea together. While mine is far from exemplifying the exquisite patterns and intricacy of traditional Javanese batik designs, it can be truly said that batik making remains an important part of Indonesian culture until today. Whether it's the batik designs printed on clothes, sarongs or framed artwork, these designs I think exemplify the essence of our traditional culture. Even so, batik in Indonesia has also changed and transformed over time in attempts to develop and to revive its significance in the modern environment. Today, when you look around Jakarta, you can see these variety of designs available, for more modern designs to traditional ones, colours and also applications. So hearing about how Aboriginal people have also created batik, I was definitely intrigued to see how they have treated batik and how their designs were like. 

What's in a name?

by gillicious

This week's tutorial, was yet another interesting discussion in class (even though it was mainly regarding issues our tutor found in our first assignment >.<) but I think what really struck me the most was the correct terminology we should use when writing about this subject. I think when writing about these kind of things, especially about people of a different race, you get really self-concious in using the correct terminology that wont offense anyone. I remember last semester when writing an essay about the changes in representation of African American people in advertising and how uneasy I was in what word I should use and whether what I wrote was still considered to be offensive or not and I think it goes the same way for this subject. It's a really sensitive issue,  considering the history of what Aboriginal and Torres Islander people have gone through since the colonisation and how their history has included discrimination. Especially in learning about this unique culture, I believe that it's important to take this into account because the last thing you want to do is use inappropriate words. 

So, what is actually appropriate? What words can we use? 

Revitalisation of Australian Aboriginal Art

The discussion of this week's tutorial was quite interesting. It posed some real challenges in interpreting this weeks reading.

"The revitalisation of Australian Aboriginal art has been one of the great success stories of modern art."

Do you agree with this statement?

What does she mean?

In my group discussion we didn't really agree with the artist in the sense that Australian Aboriginal art has been revitalised as it has existed and has been well alive all along. It seems that its success and revitilisation is seen in a Western viewpoint of how Aboriginal art have been displayed in galleries and becoming more widely recognized in the world. Of course, it's not to dismiss that the recognition of Aboriginal art is indeed a success story - for the lives of Aboriginal people and the respect and appreciation gained towards the Aboriginal culture.

In her article, Hetti Perkins argues that Australian Aboriginal art defies attempts to include it in the western art canon? Is she right?

In regards to Hetti Perkin's chapter in the book One Sun One Moon, we believed that the word "defy"seem to connote a very strong sense that Aboriginal people are intentionally creating works of art that defy the Western art canon. Although Aboriginal art is indisputably different to that of other modern art, even it its more modern forms of abstraction and styles that are similar to Western art, their underlying meanings draws upon their historicity, we did not believe that they do so intentionally. I think its more of an automatic process because Aboriginal art in certain cases, cannot be compared to other forms of Western art because it's not only art but part of their culture, so automatically it will address back to their traditional culture. 

However, in another sense, I believe that while part of it might resist to be included in the Western art canon in the sense that contemporary Indigenous arts draw upon their historicity instead of breaking away from them, I think that some new forms of Aboriginal art, does show a more modern approach. Thus while part of it does contradict with Western art theory and others part may conform to it, I think Contemporary Indigenous visual art may be a form of modernism in its own right. 

·    

Regional Styles

Instead of watching a video today, the lecture was an informative session about Regional styles of Aboriginal art. It was all about exploring the many styles of Aboriginal art and how the Aborigines are a diverse group of people, not only with many different languages but also with different styles of art.

Daniel Boyd, Treasure Island, 2005, oil on canvas,

http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/NIAT07/Detail.cfm?IRN=149628&ViewID=2

In this work by Daniel Boyd, “Treasure Island,” we can see this multitude of diversity, each coloured area representing a different language area. 

Meanings

Directly connected to our lecture, the tutorial questions and readings this week were focused on the two famous Aboriginal photographers: Destiny Deacon and Ricky Maynard. While distinct in style, both photographers share a common purpose in using photographs as a political tool in expressing issues involving Aboriginal people and the history and experiences of the Aboriginal community as a whole. The questions, which were discussed in class, derived from this sense of knowledge, on whether one is able to appreciate or understand their photographs without knowing the story or context behind them.

Old Country, New Country

Ever since the first week of studying this course, I became curious of how Aboriginal people live in the today's society and whether they have maintained their culture in a society and environment which has modernized and urbanized and in one which is clearly diverse to their traditional ways of living. So when I came across the video "Old Country, New Country" in the library, I knew it was the perfect answer to my questions.

Beads

While trying to get a copy of the "We are the young Women of this Land" exhibition book to help me for my reflective essay, I ended up getting a fish keychain made by a very kind Aboriginal women I talked with in the gallery.

 Aren't the colours of beads just amazing?

Beyond the frame

photo by vixendoll13

Continuing from the Art + Soul video last week, we finished the second part of “Home and Away” today. We got to see several more artists, including Destiny Deacon, Ricky Maynard and Doreen Reid Nakamarra – each bringing their own unique interpretation of Aboriginal art – whether it is through paintings and even photography. It was also touching to see how Doreen Reid Nakamarra went abroad to present her works which just shows how far Aboriginal art has progressed – from once being rejected to now, being embraced and appreciated worldwide. But what I thought was most thought provoking were the last words mentioned by Hetti Perkins at the end of the video.

Didgeridoo

Didgeridoo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippie/2475838283/

The didgeridoo. You've probably seen it when walking in Rundle Mall. A musical instrument that makes a "did-ge-ri-doo" kind of sound, which belong to the Aboriginal culture. Knowing little about this instrument and even it's name, while I was in Tandanya, I decided to watch the cultural performance featuring on the day: a Didgeridoo performance. The performance was quite intersting, it was a mix of seeing the cultural guide play the instrument for us but also an informative session on its signifiance to the Aboriginal culture, it's history and much more. So certainly, it really taught me so much of this musical instrument.

Place of the Red Kangaroo

Tandanya - The place of the Red Kangaroo, Tarnda's place.

After weeks of planning to go to Tandanya, I finally went today. I joined the free cultural tour and got to be brought around the gallery with a group of people as our guide talked about the different exhibitions that were going on. While the tour itself was shorter than expected, it was a really eye-opening experience. Being my first time in an Aboriginal art gallery, it was interesting to see the diversity of their art. From photography to modern sculptural works, each of the 3 exhibitions that were on display surprisingly had their own unique style and they were different to the expected dot painting and rark. Peter Sharrock works were white and abstract with simple, clean flowing lines, contrasting with the rich warm colours of many “traditional” paintings we often see. They had a honeycomb style to them, similar to paper cuts.

Peter Sharrock's artwork

http://www.artwhatson.com.au/tandanya/believe/the-mark

Christopher Crebbin's painting

http://www.tandanya.com.au

Apart from Peter Sharrock’s exhibition, there was also “Eleven,” an exhibition by Christopher Crebbin Christopher Crebbin's work were amazing, each of them seems to have their own unique style, as if they were each painted by different people when in fact, they were each influenced by different places that the artist has been to, such as Japan. Although his works were diverse, they had the common theme of the water serpent, which body flowed from frame to frame. One of the most interesting aspect of Christopher Crebbin’s work was the hidden figures in his paintings which were created through matte and glossy areas. It’s a pity that I couldn’t attend the artist talk, which would be interesting to find out his intention of doing so.

Sophie Abbott, Taylee Healy, 2010, digital photograph.

On the other hand, Sophie Abbott’s photographs showed beautiful images of South Australian Aboriginal women. What striked me the most when I looked at the exhibition was that some of the women who were photographed seem to not be “Aboriginal” and that the image of Aboriginal women portrayed and those that I have come to know are completely different.  Studying about Race Representation last semester as part of my Conteporary Issues on Design, and focusing on African Americans. There  is a clear link that can be seen in the way how Aborginal people are perceived today and how African Americans have been perceived in past (and in certain cases until today). Their representation are often stereotypical and limited, while white women are portrayed in diverse ways, the representation of Aboriginal and African American women are often limited.

Overall, my frist visit to Tandanya was a very refreshing experience and will definitely be followed by many more visits to Aboriginal exhitions and performances.

FYI. For those who want to go on a cultural tour in Tandanya, there's a free one every Thursday at 11 am! 

Dreamtime

Being still confused about the concept of the Dreamtime, the recommended reading for this week's tutorial was very helpful. As the chapter notes from Aboriginal Art by Howard Morphy notes, it's impossible and insufficient to understand the Dreamtime purely from its English sense. In fact, I think that is exactly what I have been doing which has involved trying to summarize it in a few sentences but also ended up limiting my understanding. Like any other religious concept, "the Dreamtime is not something that can be translated by a short phrase: it involves the exploration of Aboriginal ideas about the nature of the world."(1) It involves a complex belief system of ideas intertwining and working together as a whole. And so, by opening up my view and reading this article, at last I was beginning to get a better grasp of what it is about.

art and soul

Hetti Perkin's movie "Art + Soul"

http://www.alcastongallery.com.au/friends/news_images/ArtSoul.jpg

To continue our exploration in Aboriginal art and culture, we began to watch the movie "Art + Soul" by Hetti Perkins in the yesterday's lecture. It was an amazing movie, which brings you on this journey of witnessing a first-hand meeting with Aboriginal Artists. The movie shows us how they create their work and also their lives. You're only seeing the final artwork as you would in books but you see what happens behind the canvas which I thought really gives you a new perspective on Aboriginal art. 

A new journey

A new semester and so another subject to explore: Indigenous Art, Culture and Design...and to document my journey, I'll be using this blog to share the things I learn and my thoughts. Since it's my first time writing a blog, I hope you don't mind how I talk..it might take some time getting use to writing these posts. Anyways here goes my first post...