Original dreaming. Aboriginal people believe that the spirit ancestors watch over us today to ensure the laws are kept and that punishment is inflicted if broken. Photograph of Yuendume women dancing.
In the choice of Rover Thomas and Trevor Nickolls to echibit in the Australian Pavilion at the 1990 Venice Biennale, Australia will present a combination that challenges many conventional attitudes to Aboriginal art. Simultaneously the exhibition offers an appropriate platform to two important if highly idiosyncratic contemporary painters.
There can be few artists who live and work in such isolation as does Jimmy Pike. His isolation is not merely geographical, though our camp on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert is two and a half hours' drive in dry weather from Fitzroy Crossing and inaccessible in dry weather, but also social and artistic.
Painting movement at Papunya 1971-75 one of the few positive offshoots of the Government's Assimilation Policy. Senior men began to paint on boards and made murals for the school, initially showing sacred secret material, later self-censored. Paintings use complex patterning and dotting to describe formation of land by Ancestors, natural features and travel.
Bathurst and Melville Islands lie of the north coast of Australia about 100 kms from Darwin. They are the home to the Tiwi. As a result of the isolation of Tiwi people their culture has developed independently from others on the mainland. This is reflected in their art which is very bold.
Emerging from the heart of central Australia is the most exciting and dynamic development in modern Australian art. The materials are modern -acrylic on canvas. But the content is traditional - mythical and ritual.
The Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action is an independent Aboriginal community based and controlled organisation located in Brisbane Queensland.
Located in an old terrace house in Cope Street Redfern, is the voice of the Aboriginal Community in Sydney. The terrace house is not unlike any other in the inner city. However with the Koori colours on one wall and the music of Koori bands blasting out from its speakers up on the balcony the house is fairly outstanding.