Lin Onus

In comparison to the previous artist I reviewed, I found another one that is more contemporary and creates artworks using appropriation and a mixture of Aboriginal paintings techniques as well as Western imagery to bring forth his position on Identity. This artist is Lin Onus who was born in Melbourne 1948. Unlike Emily he was exposed from a young age to the art world as he worked in his fathers arts and crafts shop. It wasn't until later in his life did he embrace his Aboriginal heritage by travelling to an Aborignal community where he met a man named Jack Wunuwun in Maningrida. Jack was concerned that there wasn't enough awareness or exposure to Indigenous art in the South and therefore adopted Lin as a son and began to teach him their culture and traditions. In his art Lin combines Western and Aboriginal imagery to play with stereotypes and art history. This technique is displayed in his piece 'Michael and I are jsut slipping down the pub for a minute' 1993

Lin Onus has appropriated from a few different sources in this image. Firstly the dog is created realistically - influenced by Western art, but the wave was originally from the Japanese artwork 'The Great Wave' by Hokusai in 1800. He has inlcuded tradiontal Aboriginal motifs over the dog and the stingray in which is surfs upon, also making reference to the popular Australian sport. He is combining different contexts surrounding art in order to express his own views on stereotyping and his Aborignal heritage but in a very light-hearted manner.
After looking at Emily in the previous post it is clear to see how Aboriginal art has developed through the years. Artists still appear to be using the techinques of the ancient Aboringal art but the context is moving from culture and spritiuality to their fight to find their Identity in a Western dominant society.

Emily Kame Kngwarreye

Whilst researching for an assignment I came across an Indigenous artist I had never really heard about but was apparently one of the most pronowned Aboriginal artists of her time. Emily Kame Kngwarre was born in an isolated area of Australia named Alhalkere in 1910. She worked most of her life working on pastorial properties as a stockhand. She had very little exposure to Western society, especially the artworld. It wasn't until late in her life that she discovered her passion for painting, having a career spanning over 8 years. It is believed that during this short period Emily completed over 3000 paintings, which averages to at least one painting per day. Unlike many professional artists her studio was situated under a piece of corrugated steal leaning against a tree, producing artworks based around her cultural life and her own personal Dreamtime. Through her paintings it is evident to see her connection to the community, country and ancestral history of her region. It appeared that her art and life was completely inseperable. Emily had a very unique way of creating artworks as seen in her painting 'Emu woman' 1988. She appares to use a technique of layering with the traditional style of batik but with tranluscent colours done over and over again creating the illusion of depth. Emily describes the subject matter of her artworks as;
"Whole lot, thats the whole lot. Awelye (my dreamings), Alatyeye (pencil yam), Arkerrthe (mountain devil, lizard), Ntange (grass seed), Tingu (a Dreamtime pup), Ankerre (emu), Intekwe (a favourite food of emu's, small plant), Atnwele (green bean), and Kame (yam seed). That's what I paint, the whole lot."
Its amazing to see an artist that had no proffessional training and no exposure to the art world can be considered one of the masters of fine arts. It shows how art can come naturally through spirituality in their societies. It doesn't need any critical review or praise it is purely for her community to display the dreaming and their cultural life. I am amazed that I had not previously heard about this artist as she appears to be one of the dominant artists in Indigenous art.

Recently I viewed a very interesting Australian based film named 'The Tracker' directed and written by Rolf De Heer. It features well known Australian actors, especially the well known Indigenous actor David Gulpilil (who I think does a brilliant job!). It follows the story of an Indigenous Australian employed by white authorities to track down a fellow Aboriginie who has been accused of murder. It shows some outstanding scenes of Australia's natural outback around the South Australian Flinders Ranges and the cunning ways the man tracks down the accused.
Through this film it made the segregation that was occuring during the early 20th century, between White society and the Indigenous society to be quite fierce. The way David Gulpilil portrays the Tracker to be a surpressed man in his own land as he calls the authorities 'boss' and abides to their every requirement, even when it reaches the point where he is chained up like a prisoner.



The film shows violent scenes of Indigenous Australians being abused, taunted, shot and hung up as spectacles and all the while the Tracker sits by quitely wittnessing these horrible acts. The police describe it as it is "the benefit for the country". It is sad, as the tracker describes at one point; "poor black fella, he been born for that noose" which was quite true in those days.
Throughout the film it flashes in key sections to traditional Indigenous paintings portraying the happenings of the storyline. It links the viewer back to the story in the same traditional way the Aborigines keep their stories alive - through their art. The images are attractive incorporating the scenes in their original techniques.
I won't let you in on the end of the story, but it has a rather exciting twist so I highly recommend it!



Tandanya Gallery

Whilst enjoying some free time in the Adelaide CBD, my housemate and I decided to take a look at what was currently showing at Tandanya Gallery (Grenfel Street). The gallery was exhtibiting works by the artist Burthumarr Christopher Crebbin. He had a large array of works incorporating traditional Aboriginal painting technqiues such as dot painting. Throughout the gallery there were works evolving around their beliefs of the Rainbow Serpent and their connection to the land. Each painting had a small paragraph describing the background information and theories behind the images. There were particular ones that stood out to me:

'Old Country' 2011 - "In Aboriginal culture the Rainbow Serpent is the creator, carving canyons and rivers all around our country. Here the rainbow Serpent is moving at night under a full moon. Elders would want their young not to swim at night or the Rainbow Serpent will get them".

'Changing Serpent' 2011 - "As the Rainbow Serpent moves through the country, the country changes around it. Taking on the colours of the land, the Serpent is there for those who are part of the land."

I especially enjoyed these little insights into how important the Rainbow Serpent is to the Indigenous Australian in forging their beliefs around the land. He also touched on issues surrounding deforestation. Christopher describes:

'Ghost Gums White' 2010 - "What happens when we put our comfort and ourselves ahead of our environment, our country and our natural ways."

Christopher asks through his paintings some very important questions about the issue we are facing about deforestation as it not only affects our vegetation but spreads to the animals it affects as we have an increasing list of endangered native animals. It also arouses the question again on whether our way of living is really the better way of living like we seem to think. If we took some of their beliefs and applied them to our lifestyle I believe we could have a better connection with our surroundings and therefore take care of them better rather than abusing the land. 

My Jucupa

Recently I watched a documentary named 'Art & Soul' by Hetti Perkins, which follows her to Aboringal communties deep into the center of Australia. She is infact a quortor from Sydney who because of her own Indigenous heritage has followed this cultural area and many of its successful artists. Hetti introduces the viewer Indigenous communities such as the Kintar community. The people within this group embrace their artistic abilities by creating large amounts of artworks and then selling them to ensure an income for their clan. A woman the stood out distinctively was Naata Nunjurayi, who like many other Indigenous women; only began to paint in the mid 1990's as at first it was a male dominant area. While she paints her large and very detailed pieces she sings the story that she is painting. This appeared very spiritual and made me consider how European cultures present their stories. We differ in many ways; painting technique, materials and subject matter. We lack the spiritual connection in our works. Their paintings are meant for generations to understand their heritage and the stories of the dreaming unlike our own. Although many early religious paintings did have some similarities in that they were telling stories of our own spiritual beleifs. Continuing on, Hetti took the viewer to view rock paintings and explained that many Indigenous artists continue to use ocre and charcoal on bark to create their pieces. This shows how they are still connected with the land, following on from the ancestors although our influence has changed their methods slightly. After viewing documentary I was told about a piece of information I had never heard of before. Each Indigenous person has a 'Jucupa'. It is a central notion to their culture and very important to their connection to the land. They recieve their  Jucupa at birth and could be anything including creates or a plant. That person is then born to preserve and maintain that particular thing. It made me think, what if we were all to have Jucupa's and then perhaps we would care for our earth a bit more? Personally I believe it would ground us. White society is a very fast paced society. We are constantly looking for ways to move forward. If we were to have a Jucupa then we might be a little more grounded and appreciative of the world around us. We wouldn't want to take so much from it.