Reconciliation Action Plan Resources
Overview
This section provides a range of resources relating to Aboriginal art, focussing on art from Western Australia.
Downloadable Resources
- THE ESSENTIAL INTRODUCTION TO ABORIGINAL ART (25 FACTS)
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and art. That’s why this guide was created, in collaboration with leading Aboriginal curators - City of Joondalup Art Collection Indigenous Artworks
Aboriginal art though often perceived in one notion is a complex and varied area of culture. Changing vastly from mob to mob, songline to songline, there is no singular version of our art.
The City of Joondalup currently holds 23 artworks from Indigenous artists, acquired through purchases from galleries or from artists as a result of their engagement in City projects.The City’s collection spans multiple language groups including Noongar/ Bibulmen, Pirjantjatjara, Gooniyandi, Yamatji, Badimaya, Ngaanyatjarra, Barda, Bailgu, Yinjibarndi, Gija and Kukatja. Though from differing mobs the connective tissue between each artwork lies with their stories of country and the tie each artist feels within their homelands. Seeing places as living beings rather than passive environments, places that breathe and interact with you first - a constant give and take, ebb and flow. Knowing our place as First Nations people within the landscape irrespective of outside forces and perspectives. Country knows us and is the judge, allocating and providing as it sees fit. - Resource Guide The Arts—Visual Arts
The information and resources contained in this guide provide a platform for teachers and educators to consider how to effectively embed important ideas around reconciliation, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and contributions, within the specific subject/learning area of The Arts- Visual Arts. Please note that this guide is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive, and that teaching staff are encouraged to consult with their local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in engaging with the material contained in the guide. - UWA - fact sheet Stories in Aboriginal art
An aspect of Aboriginal art that is important to understand before commencing your painting, is the place of art in Aboriginal communities, and reasons the people create many of their paintings. Art has a central place in Aboriginal culture as it replaces the written word in recording most aspects of life
Videos
Web Links
The below web links provide additional resources and support when exploring the artwork created by Aboriginal Australians.
- Kaartdijin Noongar - Art Kaartdijin means knowledge in the language of the Noongar people of the south-west of Western Australia. The South West Aboriginal Land & Sea Council recognised the importance of documenting and capturing stories of Noongar people.
- The Carrolup School and Australian Landscape Painting The Carrolup School emerged in Western Australia as a distinctive landscape tradition of painting created by school aged Aboriginal children in the 1940s. Its elements of romantic depiction of the bush and bush life may well reflect the needs of the child artists who were removed from their Aboriginal families under government policy. The tradition became a shared style of painting as the young artists matured and painting techniques spread through family groups, creating a regional style in the wheat belt and south west towns of Western Australia.
- Fremantle Arts Centre - Support WA's Aboriginal Artists Fremantle Arts Centre is situated at Walyalup on Whadjuk Nyoongar Boodjar. We acknowledge the Whadjuk people as the traditional owners and custodians of these lands and waterways and extend our respect to their Elders, past and present. We offer our heartfelt gratitude to the Whadjuk community and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to care for Country and share their knowledge – this generosity and wisdom helps us to understand and navigate Country safely and respectfully. We have produced illustrated books in Noongar and English available via UWA Publishing. On this site, you can listen to stories and songs, and take a look back at some of our workshops and activities.
- Western Desert Mob Western Desert Mob is an alliance of Aboriginal art centres from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in Western Australia. Formed in 2007, Western Desert Mob (WDM) links six leading Aboriginal owned and governed art centres, reflecting the area’s close cultural, family and creative connections.
- AGWA - Collection:"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander" Situated in the heart of Perth’s Cultural Centre, the Gallery houses the State Art Collection with works by renowned local and international artists from the 1800s to today. Immerse yourself in the Balancing Act gallery space displaying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. Take a free guided tour or find something unique in the Gallery Shop to take home.
- Berndt Museum The Berndt Museum of Anthropology at The University of Western Australia (UWA) holds one of the most significant collections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural material in the world, manifesting in art, objects, archives, manuscripts, film and sound and photographic collections.
- Australian Aboriginal Art Education & Teacher Resources Japingka Aboriginal Art is a specialist Aboriginal art gallery in Perth, Western Australia. We are located on two levels of a heritage 1890’s warehouse building in Fremantle’s historic West End – 47 High Street, Fremantle. The ground floor art gallery presents a broad cross-section of Aboriginal art from leading artists and regions. The two upstairs galleries present 12 new exhibitions per year, chosen from Indigenous emerging and established communities and artists.
Nexus Resources
DREAMINGS : the art of aboriginal Australia. by Call Number: AR 709.94 DREISBN: 0670824496Publication Date: 1989This eye catching publication explains the art of both contemporary and traditional Aboriginal people. The concept of the Dreaming is described both in terms of history and religion and how this is represented in all art forms. As well, non-Aboriginal responses to Aboriginal art over the past 200 years are presented.
Available from The Art Department
Indigenous art : Art Gallery of Western Australia. by Call Number: AR 709.94 CROISBN: 0730738167Publication Date: 2001This book offers a window into the indigenous art collection in the Art Gallery of WA. Through comprehensive essays by past and present staff whose words are bought to life by wonderful images, this is a significant representation of the wealth of indigenous visual art and culture in the Art Gallery's collections.
Available from The Art Department
Contemporary Aboriginal art : a guide to the rebirth of an ancient culture by Call Number: AR 709.94 MCCISBN: 1864486317Publication Date: 1999Since the renaissance of traditional Aboriginal art began at the small central Australian desert community of Papunya in 1971, Aboriginal art has become the most dynamic of Australia's visual arts. The crosshatched bark paintings from Arnhem Land, the multi-layered "dot" paintings from central Australia, the ochre paintings of Western Australia's west Kimberley painters, the bright "naif" watercolours of the Fitzroy Crossing artists from the east Kimberley and the widely divergent individual expressions of urban artists are only some of the prolific expression of this rich, evolving tradition. But how has this art come about? What is the cultural wellspring from which it originates?
Available from The Art Department
Western Desert satellites by Call Number: AR 759.9941 WESISBN: 9780975809846Publication Date: 2006Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, 12 April 2006 - 27 September 2006. Exhibition curator, Clotilde Bullen
Available from The Art Department
Document Links
- Resolution - New Indigenous Photomdia
Resolution: new Indigenous photomedia includes
some of the most thought-provoking and exciting
contemporary photomedia art, still photography and
moving-image works being produced by Indigenous
artists in recent years. Drawn from the national
collection, the works by the nineteen artists in the
exhibition are grouped within four themes