Aboriginal Artwork

During my time in Australia, I attended a few lectures about Aboriginal Artwork. I became fascinated with the process and symbolism behind it. I love how the traditional works are not interpreted in the same way as we interpret Western art. Traditional Aboriginal works are seen as maps, dreams or memories into journeys, undertaken by previous generations. They are often symbolic of celebrations and the surrounding land. Across the culture, the symbols can vary but each tribe has their own identity within paintings which cannot be unlocked without the code.

Johnny Imaroo Tjapanangka Wallaby Dreaming 1989
Acrylic on Canvas

This painting tells the story of a Wallaby. He was chased by tribesmen, as he moved between waterholes. The circles represent a stop in a journey whilst the lines connecting represent the journey.

Lena Nyadbi Lilmim and Jimbala (Scales and Spearheads) 2002
Ochre on Linen

This tells the story of discovering and hunting fish. The linear shapes in this composition symbolise spearheads whilst the N shapes symbolise scales of barramundi fish.

Ningura Napurrula Untitled 2005
Acrylic on Canvas

This piece comes from a rock hole site east of the Kiwirrkura community in Western Australia. In mythological times, a group of ancestral women camped at this location associated with birth. The lines adjacent to the dark circles symbolise pregnancy whilst the lines around the edge of the painting represent sand hills and a creek.

This concept of coding is something that I am hugely interested in exploring further. I want to analyse the Aboriginal code, and appropriate this into my own work.  I then want to take it further by developing my own code, so that I can document my own experiences and create a visual map of my memories. I want to research more into coding, symbolism and systems within art in order to create a narrative that will run universally across my drawings and embroidery samples.