Storytelling through Dreamtime Art
“My people have always felt the need to express themselves through painting, now and since the beginning of time. Our sacred rocks are covered with these paintings which tell of the “Dreamtime.” There we can see representations of the creator god Baiame in all his forms, and what the world of our ancestors was like, thousands of years ago.” -Yakar Garimala, 2014
First Nations art is the oldest continuous artistic tradition in the world; and it is centred around storytelling, in particular the Jukurrpa, or Dreamtime as it is commonly known. Their artwork displays an enormous array of patterns, which are rich in meaning; they trace the timeless tales of Creation, the religion of their peoples and knowledge of the land, usually in chronological order. Symbols and iconography play a significant role in conveying this as there was no written language for many millennia within the First Nations’ culture. The symbols painted a story of their cultural significance, survival techniques and relationship to the land (Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, 2020).
When we talk about ‘Indigenous Australia’ it is important to educate the wider Australian community that the First Nations people are not just one big homogenous group. When the continent of Australia was discovered by the Europeans, it was made up of many different countries, and the inhabitants of these countries had different languages, physical appearances, customs, and different methods of producing art (Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, 2020). As a result, the interpretations of the different Indigenous clans’ iconography and symbolism differed significantly. With the audience of children, stories were painted in a more simpler form to highlight the moral teachings and educational aspects of the story. However, when communicating to initiated elders the stories and, therefore iconography, were interpreted at a higher level (Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery, 2020).
Clan Elder Yakar Garimala, from Bickerton Island in eastern Arnhem Land, states that First Nations peoples’ art is born from certain dreams, which belong to an individual or to his ‘Moiety’ or mystic society, and the intense colours they see in their land. However, the individual has to ask permission if they want to paint someone else’s dream. Yakar Garimala explains why this is:
“Through dreams, we can enter the other — parallel world- in which, since the creation, gods, spirits and men have lived together. The actions carried out in that world are what change and order the world of the living. That is why every painting contains an internal message which can only be seen by those who have the wisdom to understand it.” — Yakar Garimala, 2014
Essentially, Creation Law is at the heart of Indigenous art, and facets of the individual’s Dreaming is interpreted through art, which forms a part of their identity and inheritance. Through painting the Dreaming, the past and present merge together, and the individual gains contact with the Tingari. The Tingari are Dreamtime Beings, or ancestral elders, that travelled across the country performing rituals at sacred Dreamtime sites, creating the natural shapes of the landscape. In the Western Desert, these sacred sites take the form of sand hills, rock holes, mountains and water soakages. The Tingari ancestors gathered at these sites for initiation ceremonies called ‘Maliera,’ and their adventures were enshrined in numerous song cycles by the already initiated men of the clan.
As a result, when an initiated elder has a dream of the Tingari, they are depicted through song-line paintings (Cooee Art Gallery, 2020). George ‘Hairbrush’ Tjungarrayi, Pintupi clansman, and his ‘Tingari Dreaming’ acrylic painting on canvas depicts the Tingari Dreaming Cycle and the sacred sites of the Tingari. The iconography can be seen in the image below where his use of “duo-linear roundels and shapes arranged in tight formal geometric patterns” appear as if they are pulsating with a “subtle optical rhythm” (Cooee Art Gallery, 2020). These patterns represent the topography of the sacred sites visited by the Tingari, and the paths they took across the landscape. The ceremonial songs of the Tingari men are sung whilst painting, creating a connection with the spiritual beings and allowing them to interpret somewhat of a religious map spoken to them in their dreams. The traditional Pintupi ochre colours of red, yellow, black and white are used in these song-line paintings.
Traditionally, Indigenous art was painted on tree bark with natural pigments and “carved into rocks or painted onto bodies, or made as huge ephemeral sand mosaics” (Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, 2020). However, the First Nations’ art we see today on board and canvas, in commercial paints like watercolours, acrylic and oils, commenced merely 50 years ago. Aside from song-line paintings, other paintings involving symbols and iconography involve the use of totemic animals such as crocodiles, turtles, fish, duckbill platypuses, kangaroos and snakes. As Yakar Garimala (2014) says:
“These paintings are inspired by the drawings our ancestors left on the sacred rocks. Man is also represented in our paintings, though at times with the body of an animal. They are the men who at the beginning of time lived with the spirits and the gods of creation.” -Yakar Garimala, 2014.
If you are interested in learning more about Indigenous Dreamtime paintings, click here to see more incredible paintings Yarn has to display from our immensely talented artists. One of our artists, Charlie Chambers (Jnr), belonging to the Jarowair tribe, paints the Dreamtime in order to -as he says- “keep the stories that the elders told me about the community alive.”
