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...

Having no background knowledge at all, except for some recalls of making dot paintings of Australian animals when I was in primary school back in Jakarta, hearing the first lecture and reading into some books showed me that this semester is going to be a challenge – a whole new territory of understanding a foreign culture with very rich and complex beliefs and culture.

Thinking that reading several articles would make me able to understand the culture and art was clearly an underestimation of how complex and profound this subject would be. However, with what I’ve gained from reading several articles and hearing the lecture, I have come closer into understanding who the Aboriginal people are and knowing a little about their belief system: The Dreamtime. Being the oldest living culture on the planet, I think it’s amazing how the Aboriginal culture and art today, even with the tragic happenings during the colonial era, are still able to show a strong connection to their past. It’s amazing to see how a rock painting from thousands of years ago can resemble a contemporary painting seen today. While styles have come and gone, with everything modernizing, this culture has maintained its unique identity and style. A culture still strong today as it was in the past. However, at the same time it is easy to conclude that Aboriginal art exists only in the form of dot paintings and those with traditional styles, the examples provided in the lecture shows that their art come in many different forms. 

Another interesting aspect mentioned in the lecture I thought was how Aboriginal art was previously not considered as “art” but mostly as a study for anthropologists. Only 100 years after colonization, did people stop looking as Aboriginal art through the framework of sociology and began to respect it as its own form, marked by a painting by Haast Blaff in 1939, which penetrated the mainstream market.

“The objects were appropriated for purposes of study only. There was little or no reference to their beauty or to the technical and aesthetic complexity of their manufacture. They were not perceived as ‘art,’ or viewed in any way aesthetically, until the twentieth century” (1)

I think it’s sad to see how the Aboriginal people with such rich culture and art have been rejected and denied of their beauty in the past. Stories about Indigenous people, as I’ve read in numerous articles always held a recurrent theme, which is a history filled with numerous struggles, particularly since the colonial period in 1788; where they have been dispossessed and considered outsiders in their own land. As “The Little Red Yellow Black Book” states, the Aboriginal community forms “a coalition of people united in their political struggle.” Fortunately, on the brighter side, there have been several developments over the years: Aboriginal people have been given the rights to vote as well as land rights and today, their art and culture is highly recognized and appreciated around the world. And with such determination in maintaining their culture and their unfailing strength, I think studying the art and culture of Indigenous people will be a beautiful experience..

So I hope you enjoyed reading what I wrote (even though it's quite long) and I'll see you next time..





References:
(1) Syvia Kleinert and Margo Neale, ed. The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000).