NAIDOC Week

Some people are familiar with the Western Desert art movement, sometimes known as “dot painting”. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are diverse, and so is their art practice, just like artists anywhere. In fact, there are two overarching groups of people who are Indigenous to Australia: mainland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who live on the islands off the northern coast of Queensland. There are about five distinct language groups among Torres Strait Islander peoples, and their art and cultural traditions are very different. Altogether there are over 120 distinct indigenous languages spoken today, although there were more than 500 languages and dialects before European settlement.

The term ‘Country’ is all-encompassing and includes the land, sea, sky and everything contained therein. Artist and curator Nici Cumpston explains: ‘Country is spoken about in the same way non-Aboriginal people may talk about their living human relatives. Aboriginal peoples cry about Country, they worry about Country, they listen to Country, they visit Country and long for Country’. Some artists represent features of the landscape in their works of art to communicate their profound, ongoing relationship with Country. Other artists raise awareness about the dispossession of Country as a result of invasion, using art to assert their rights as Traditional Owners of land and sea.

No! Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists are often deeply offended by this practice. It is considered cultural appropriation (when a person from a dominant culture uses the designs or patterns of a minority culture without their permission). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander designs are specific to those cultures and don’t have anything to do with your own culture and identity. Appropriating or stealing their symbols would disrespect their true meanings and limit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists’ capacity to interpret and represent their own cultural traditions.

Instead, in the classroom we recommend children create their own symbols to tell their story in their works of art.

Today, terms such as ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Dreamtime’ are considered inappropriate, and often offensive, because they misrepresent and devalue Aboriginal people’s complex worldviews. Instead, it is preferrable to use the specific term used by the artists whose work you’re looking at. For example, Pitjantjatjara people from central Australia talk of Tjukurpa when discussing their beliefs, laws, creation stories, sacred sites and cultural knowledge. Kuninjku people from central Arnhem Land say Djang. Getting your students to use and understand key words is a great way to help them learn about and respect First Nations art and culture.

"‘Dreaming’ or ‘Dreamtime’ are words that are too small to explain the magnitude of our Tjukurpa. Tjukurpa is everything – it’s our laws, it’s our stories, our lands, our culture and it’s us and who we are. ‘Dreamtime’ or ‘Dreaming’ is airy and suggests it is made up or not real, which takes away the power and seriousness of our Tjukurpa." - Sally Scales Pitjantjatjara artist