"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?