Exploring Indigenous Australian art

Bradshaw rock paintings found in the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia

Indigenous Australian art covers art made by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia. It involves works in a wide range of media, including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving, rock carving, watercolor painting, sculpting, ceremonial clothing, and sand painting; art by Indigenous Australians that pre-dates European colonization by thousands of years, up to the present day.

It was not until the later 1980s that rock painting was acknowledged in Western Australia, with these distinct paintings known as Bradshaws; these mural paintings were first recorded by Joesph Bradshaw, a Western European explorer of that era.

A variety of indigenous art forms around Australia

Rock sculptures and engravings

There are different varieties of rock engravings in Australia, with the most famous being the Murujuga in Western Australia. The many kinds of rock carvings and woodcutting are dependent upon the nature of the rock being used and you will normally find that from one rock to the next, the techniques and patterns will be altered. For instance, the Sydney rock art uses a special design that can’t be found anywhere else in Australia and uses people and animals as symbols for several definitions and ways of representation.

Rock Compositions

Rock Compositions is another unusual type of art found in Australia, and again, there are various forms in it. Among the most famous stone arrangements in Australia have to be the circles of Victoria, which are made up of 1m stones which are typically set into the soil and used to illustrate representations of anglers and other everyday people of that time.

Bark art

Bark paintings are fast changing to the most extensive and highly revered art forms around the globe. Bark painting is now deemed a “fine art,” You will see some high costs on bark painting examples sold around international marketplaces in various places around the world. In reality, bark art is still an active type of art form, which was first started by the aboriginals thousands of years ago.

Modern Aboriginal art

One remarkable aspect of this art style is that it is still evident, a valid art form in local Australia. During the mid-1930s, aboriginal artists became recognized as accomplished artists in the nation, and many of the paintings were sold out in carnivals around Australian cities such as Adelaide and also Melbourne. In the late 1980s, other forms of aboriginal art began to arrive on the scene, and now, well into the 2000s, this art happens to be among the most popular styles of art discovered in the nation, and indeed all over the world.

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