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. 

Naata Nunggarrayai painting

http://www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/p/4625497/naata-nungurrayi-marrapinti.html

As Naata Nunggarrayai, a female Aboriginal Artist, painted, she would sing songs of her country. Painting became some kind of ritual and the whole process of art-making suddenly transform to become something more that "art." As she was painting, she was revisiting the country and energizing it at the same time. But what I thought was even more amazing was the simplicity of the strokes or dots that many of the artists begin with but when finished, transformed into marvelous pieces of art. 

Apart from the art itself, it was also interesting to see the Indigenous people showing us the sites of the dreaming. In the movie, they showed a site of land, which they identified to the “Snake Dreaming.”

Although the movie clip we watched yesterday was only part a long series, I think you can really see the importance of art in their lives and how art has enabled change and success for them.

Found some additional info if you want to know more:
Interview With Hetti Perkins about Art + Soul
http://blogs.abc.net.au/abc_tv/2010/10/hettiperkins.html

Companion book to the Art + Soul Movie
Perkins, Hetti. Art + Soul: A Journey into the world of Aboriginal Art. Carlton, Vic.: Miegunyah Press, 2010.