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Symbols in
Aboriginal Art |
These paintings depict an aerial view of the country, representing the
lay of the land as created by ancestral beings during their journeys
of creation. These ancestors are often a combination of animal-like
creatures with human characteristics and frailties, and it is their adventures
which
have served to shape the landscape, while at the same time establishing
the laws under which the Aboriginal societies operate. A typical and
common story for example, is one of the taboo of any relationship between
a man
and his mother-in-law (or any woman who comes from the ‘skin’ group
from where a mother-in-law is drawn). Any such relationship is followed
by dire consequences in these ancient stories, and therefore to this
day, it is forbidden for a man and his mother-in-law to communicate
in any way
whatsoever.
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A honey-ant ancestor’s journey may be tracked across the
countryside by following the rocks, valleys, trees or holes in the ground
created
by such a journey, and this journey can be described in detail by complex
and
ancient songs, which may last for days. Songs and ceremonies of this
kind are performed for all the creatures and plants of the remote regions
where
the culture is still strong. Hence caterpillar dreaming, kangaroo dreaming,
emu dreaming, bush potato dreaming etc. It is just such story and ceremony
which is depicted in the paintings, and indeed, the paintings themselves
are an extension of ceremonial ground paintings, rock art, and body art
used during ceremonies.
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It is the symbols carried into the modern day
which are still used in these paintings, albeit with modern acylic
paint and canvas. Artists in
these remote regions paint only ‘their’ country, that being
country for which they have ceremonial attachment because of the complex ‘skin’ designation,
based on proper marriage relationships and the knowledge handed down
from mothers, fathers and tribal elders during their life-long education
and
initiation ceremonies. The painting of the honey-ant story is therefore
restricted to the father and son line (the Jabanardi/Jabanunga skin groups)
their sisters and spouses, and those groups who have supporting ceremonial
roles.
It should come as no surprise that the works depict an aerial view
of country, because it is by reading the signs at their feet that the
people
were able to survive in an unforgiving land over thousands of years.
It is this complex and enthralling interpretation of the land which is
depicted
in these artworks, and it is through the eyes of the individuals who
produce the works that such stories can, in part, be passed on to the
wider world. Back
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