Stories about Indigenous heritage and culture were told in everyday objects, like this container for carrying food and water.

ARTS

Artistic expression and the transmission of heritage, culture and spiritual beliefs go hand-in-hand in Indigenous society.

Dance, song, music, body painting and rock art are some of the main ways Indigenous people pass on and ensure the survival of their traditional culture.

These art forms are expressed in a serious, ritualistic way, rather than performed or expressed purely for entertainment or personal enjoyment.

In the absence of a written language, and in addition to story-telling, Indigenous people rely on art, music and dance to convey all that is important to them, particularly replication of the Creation designs to please the Ancestral Beings.

In these art forms, the young can learn about traditional Indigenous culture and be able to pass the knowledge on to coming generations.

Art is not only a reflection of spirituality, but also enhances the connection that Indigenous people have with the land.

Knowledge about art is the ancestral and intellectual property of Indigenous society and is the domain of the Elders.

The process and style of art is passed on discriminately to members of a group in stages, depending on their age, gender and family customs.

Only people who have been entrusted with particular art forms are allowed to use that knowledge.

The process of creating traditional art, rather than the finished product, is considered highly significant to Indigenous people. The preparation of objects for traditional ceremonial purposes is in itself a ritual, and engraving, painting or sculpture are often accompanied by singing a song appropriate to the design being worked on. All these aspects of the artistic process are seen as evidence of the Ancestral Beings and an extension of their unseen powers.

Traditional art

All these art forms are completed as part of a ritualistic story-telling process. Sculpture, woodcarving, rock engraving, body painting, bark painting, and mat or basket weaving are decorated with patterns which identify the owner.

Items associated with ritual, such as bark shelters, bark coffins and bark belts were often decorated using ochre, charcoal and clay.

Music and dance is the physical depiction of the traditional spiritual story-telling, and decorated bodies, instruments and objects complement this process.

Rock art – This is found around Australia, with the most outstanding sites in Arnhem Land, the Northern Territory, eastern Cape York and the Wandjina rock paintings in the Kimberley.

Types of artwork vary around the continent, depending on ideology, landscape and local materials, but common symbols appear everywhere – hunting and tracking, spirit places, life and death, relationships between men and women, and other living things.

Creation-time figures, human beings, body parts, implants, weapons and wildlife are also depicted in rock art.

The size of designs depended on the size of the ‘canvas’, although in some cases, such as the Wandjina faces, the figures were small compared to the rock space but the repetition of the design indicates their significance.

This painted and decorated boab nut from WA’s Kimberley region, with a timber stand, is one of a myriad of ways Indigenous people show their distinctive creative style.

Artistic designs were not originally created for public showing, and most are only to be seen by particular people in the group, such as initiated men. Some works can only be painted and seen in their entirety by Elders, with the beginning stages of a work shown to younger members.

Some works, such as sorcery images, are constructed and viewed by only a few people. Fading rock art is maintained by appropriate members of a group, such as the Elders, to ensure that the work remains visible forever.

Researchers say it is difficult to date rock art but examples in northern Queensland are believed to have been created about 30,000 years ago.

Rock engravings – Little is known about the meaning of early rock engravings, which at the simplest level were notches or linear grooves made with simple tools by rubbing on talc-like limestone surfaces.

More sophisticated rock art included ‘pecked’ rock designs, made by making nicks in the rock, ‘bruising’ to show lighter coloured rock, painting, using pigments and brushes made from chewed twigs, and drawing, using charcoal or clay.

Bark paintings – Early bark paintings were completed on the inside of bark shelters and are likely to have been used in ceremonies, such as initiation, but because of their perishable nature their use is not totally clear.

Bark is cut from a tree with a stone axe, heated over a fire to uncurl it, and painted with ochres or plant dyes.

Stories may be ‘read’ through the painting by moving the art around – therefore gallery walls are not the best places to view bark paintings.

Brushes – Green twigs with palm leaf or hair are used to make paint brushes.

Carvings – Objects are carved to give a spiritual element to that object. Rock, trees, wood, shell, stones, bone, weapons, utensils, musical instruments and boab and other nuts are among objects carved by Indigenous people.

The people of Bathurst and Melville Islands have carved elaborate poles which are used in burials and can be decorated with feathers, ribbons, armbands and tassels.

Carvings of totemic animals and figurines are part of traditional culture in north-east Arnhem Land. In the Kimberley, pearl shell has been carved and passed along trade routes to the central and southern part of the continent.

Artefacts – Bark and plant fibre is cut, then soaked or chewed to soften the fibres for use in artefacts like mats, baskets, hunting nets, belts and dilly bags.

Some woven objects were only used in ceremonies and were kept in cave storehouses. Some craft was associated with ancestral and totemic origin – for example, the pattern on a dilly bag can indicate the family identity of the owner.

Twine – Human hair, animal fur, root fibres, inner bark, stems and bulrushes are used to make twine for use in a range of everyday objects, such as nets and bags.

Paint – Blood, plant pigments and ochres are used to paint the body, rocks, bark and other Indigenous objects.

An abundant traditional source of ochre comes from a big mine north-west of Cue, in WA, at Wilgie Mia.

About 15,000 cubic metres of red and yellow ochre have been dug up at Wilgie Mia by Indigenous people. Ochre was mined using digging sticks and hammer stones. The red ochre was highly prized and may have been traded as far away as Queensland.

A nearby mine, Little Wilgie, is believed to have preceded Wilgie Mia and was more important mythologically. It is thought mining began at Little Wilgie more than 1,000 years ago.

Body decoration – Indigenous people have a strong tradition of body painting, piercing and scarification, or cutting, in their ritual and ceremonial processes. Also, feathers, animal teeth jewellery, head dresses and animal skin garments were used to adorn the body for ceremonial purposes.

Style of dress relates to factors such as the person’s status, age, gender, initiation stage, totemic affiliation and tribal group.

Perhaps simply because of the climate, traditional clothing never became an essential functional item for Indigenous people. Instead the body became a ‘canvas’ for symbolic and artistic expression.

Ochres, vegetable pigments and charcoal were the main paints – white clay was a popular base, hair was sometimes coloured and red was a special decorative colour.

Body painting could be enhanced by adding materials such as dust or crushed plant fibre, feather down, wild cotton, flowers or leaves stuck on with resin, mud or blood.

After a performance, body designs were washed off, having served the ceremonial purpose.

Body ornaments can add to ceremonial dress, such as pendants and necklaces made from seeds, seed pods, claws, plant fibre, hair, shells, kangaroo teeth and the jaw bones from small animals like possums.

Body scarring by piercing the nasal septum or cutting the body was a common ritual device.

Cuts were made with a sharp stone or shell, in special shapes and places on the body, and the wound filled with ash to cause the scar to heal as a raised mark.

Dance and mime – may tell a story associated with the Creation time, about the journey of Ancestral Beings, related to a totem, or that marks a rite of passage, such as birth, initiation or death. There are also dances that relate to seasonal rituals, such as the annual men-only gathering of the Bogong moths.

Dance performers must follow the songs and the direction of Ancestral tracks in relation to the land the Dreaming to ensure their performances activate the power of the Ancestral Being.

Only men can be soloists - the ability to sing or dance attracted power and social prestige with body painting, head-dress and gestures defining their social standing.

Men and women do not usually dance together. Ceremonies that include dance are either for men, women or sometimes the whole community.

Dancers use a wide range of steps and styles to portray characters, often animals, humans or spirit beings, and use devices such as eucalyptus leaves attached to the ankles and arms to make the sound of the rustling of an emu’s feathers or the movement of a bush turkey.

Music – By itself, music is not a feature of traditional societies, but is used as an accompaniment to voices in ceremonies.

Musical instruments such as the didgeridoo, clap sticks, seed-pod rattles and animal-skin covers over long log-drums, are usually played to accompany dancing, with leg or thigh slapping adding rhythm. Boomerangs, spear-throwers or shields are also used as percussion instruments. Clubs or digging sticks can be thumped on the ground and feet stamped.

Singing was generally limited to chants and simple lyrics and covered most aspects of Indigenous lifestyle.

Contemporary art

Indigenous art, music and dance in their traditional forms remain a strong part of traditional Indigenous life, but have also found a respected place in the wider Australian community.

Where Indigenous art was once only an anthropological curiosity, it is now admired for its beauty throughout Australia and the rest of the world.

But to ensure the sanctity of the work, Indigenous people have also had to teach non-Indigenous people about the spiritual significance of their art.

It is important that non-Indigenous people know that not all Indigenous art can be seen by the broader community – it is spiritually dangerous for women, for example, to see some Creation pictures.

Also, only certain people are spiritually sanctioned to complete traditional Indigenous paintings and therefore act as custodians to that image.

Indigenous communities and individuals around the continent are now developing a strong arts presence in Australia, both in traditional and contemporary arts.

Indigenous artists are thriving in contemporary settings, in many cases inspired by their Indigenous heritage.

Indigenous artists are working in all spheres of the contemporary arts world, participating in areas unfamiliar to traditional Indigenous arts, such as writing and film-making.

Art festivals throughout the country celebrate Indigenous culture, whether the event is solely Indigenous arts, music and theatre, or as a component of a bigger event, such as the 2004 UWA Perth International Arts Festival which will include Kimberley Culture in Nyoongar land, in Perth.

In addition, Indigenous radio stations, television stations, arts groups, music schools and courses are all contributing to the rich diversity of Indigenous arts in Australia today.