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. 

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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...