Aboriginal Australians used art for spiritual purposes related to their Dreamtime beliefs. Body art like scarification was used in rituals for mourning, initiation, and social status and was seen as enhancing beauty. Cave paintings and bark paintings told stories from the Dreamtime and were used to educate future generations. Initiation ceremonies included alterations like tooth and hair removal or scarification to transform initiates and sustain the Dreamtime realm. Recently, Aboriginal art has taken traditional forms like bark paintings or incorporated Western styles like easel painting.

1. Aboriginal Australian Aesthetics Colin Ducharme & Courtney Self

2. Resources Environment

3. Limited Materials Why do Aborigines make art?“[Art] is the voice through which the human soul speaks to the spirit of nature.” (Anderson)Eternal DreamtimeSpiritual world Ritual & Performance

4. Scarification Mobile art mediums: the human body

5. Techniques

6. Purpose: - mourning - initiation rituals - social status - enhancement of beauty

7. Body Art Techniques - greased/ochers - blood/ kapok plant - paint Enhanced appearance

8. Ritual purposes

9. Painted designs were owned by the individuals who wore them

10. Clothing to decorate not to cover Do you think body modification qualifies as art?

11. Cave Art

12. Bark PaintingTjurungas- flat, oval, or circular slabs of wood or stone, often bearing complex paintings and incised patterns Art makers used subjective vision- representing things not as they appear to the eye, but as the mind knows them eternally to be Paint and bloodUsed to educate future generations Art making

13. Initiation Ceremonies Ceremonies were performed to sustain the realm of human Initiates were altered in appearance: - Pulling out teeth/ hair Scarification

14. Genital Mutilation Aboriginal Religion continued… Fertility Mother: Kunapipi (Gunabibi) focus on increased magic - perpetuate natural order of the Eternal Dreamtime Ritual & dance

15. Aboriginal and the Contemporary World In recent decades, the aborigines had two options: Reproduce traditional paintings (bark, paper, or canvas)

16. Or the Western easel-painting styles of the non-Aboriginal world Scholars have interpreted the art to be valuable and influential in Australia’s cultural heritage