Aboriginal Art Symbols
Aboriginal symbols used in art differ between the tribal nations of Australia .
Although Australian aboriginal symbols are usually associated with the dot paintings the ancient rock art also incorporate symbols to represent spiritual characters and specific dreamtime stories.
Whats the significance of Aboriginal Symbols
Aboriginal paintings are all associated, however loosely, to a tale and the symbols within that painting tell that story.
You have heard the saying “A picture tells a thousand words”
Who knows maybe if you have enough pictures you don’t need any written words at all.
In the absence of any written language as such, art symbols were an important of keeping the tales of old alive.
What are the stories of old. They are the things that are important to pass on to the next generation. They are in away the library of what has been learnt. A library of what should not be forgotten. The stories of life.
And- Life is but a collection of many stories.
Many people may think aboriginal paintings and stories are all about the “Dreamtime” or the time of creation and many are. However, many of the traditional stories have some sort of sound practical knowledge or ecological basis for teaching the way of doing things. Survival in the often-harsh environments is a major concern. So, stories about finding sacred underground water holes. Stories about how and when to hunt or gather food. When where and why to set fire to certain areas. The stories and teachings about sacred areas such as rainforest or areas surrounding permanent water holes had sound ecological basis for sustainability etc.
Aboriginal people like every other civilisation has done in the absence of modern-day science make up stories myths and legends about the things we want answers to but find difficult to comprehend..
Why sometimes there is no rain for years. Why at other times, old riverbeds that have not seen water in many many years suddenly flood and like a giant serpent swallow all that is nearby. Why sometimes the sun goes dark during an eclipse or why the moon is red. Why the geese did not come to flood plains this year and Why it once snowed where it never does. What cause the thunder and lightning etc. The unexplained and the unknown has fascinated man since the beginning of time.
For the indigenous people of Australia, in the absence of a written language, ceremony song lines dance and storytelling with the use of artistic symbolism was the way of preserving their culture. The use of icons symbols and designs conveyed the stories of old and teachings so important in their culture.
How are Aboriginal Symbols used in Art
If you ask Mr. Google to look up “Art Symbolism” he and Mrs. Wikipedia will tell you Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin.. But symbolism art was around many thousands of years before that. The desert aboriginals of Australia had been using symbolism to produce large mosaics in the sand some bigger than most art gallery floors, for ceremony. The often-complex designs and symbols which were then. destroyed during the ceremonial dancing.
The rock artists of the Kimberly and Arnhem Land escarpment had been painting their own form of symbolism on the rocks for thousands and thousands of years.
A symbol or combination of symbols can be used to represent an abstract idea, an action, person, place, ceremony, word, object, mood, emotion, story, life or death, anything. And while the symbols suggest the storyline your mind experience, and imagination personalises the message.
Symbolism in aboriginal art also includes the colours and sequence of colours themselves. In the same way as many of us think of the colour red to symbols danger and green to symbols safety, grey as gloom and bright sequence of rainbow colours to symbolise happiness,. So too aboriginal artists use colours and colour sequences to convey meaning. The symbols or icons in aboriginal dot paintings often imply more than their literal meaning especially when combined.
A good comparison is the Chinese Witten language that uses symbols and symbol combinations. Chinese characters have singular meaning but combined together they tell a different story
Some may be obvious others not so much
Aboriginal art symbols are used in much the same way
Australian Indigenous art symbols are much the same. Whist symbols can have many meanings. It depends upon the context . A symbols get its context from neighbouring symbols and the story itself.
However, one must keep in mind there were over 600 different language groups throughout Australia. Australia covers 7,595,342 km2, thus easy to understand why there is no substantial all-encompassing uniformity in language or cultural practices, art or symbolism.
Different Styles of Aboriginal Symbols used in Art
For this example of comparing different styles symbolism in Aboriginal artworks, we will concentrate on two very broad groupings, as we have done for all the indigenous artworks sold online.
Each group containing several major nations or language groups. Central Australian Desert and Northern Australian predominately that of Arnhem Land.
Aboriginal culture is living and ever evolving. The contemporary aboriginal art movement of central Australia is, now somewhat detached from old traditional limitations and each artist tends to use more and more colors and symbol with variations and adaptions of their own. The Northern Artists from Arnhem Land and the Kakadu area tend to stick more closely to established tradition. Sometimes describe as 'primative art' are similar in form and composition to that of the old rock art paintings of millennia gone by. Although this changing.
Even though Aboriginal Art styles can vary from artist to artist, these two distinct broad styles Central and Northern can easily be identified or grouped as dot paintings and crosshatch paintings.
Meanings of Aboriginal symbols
Here are some of the basic symbols incorporated in dot painting by Sandy Walker Japangardi and Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra.
Thorny Mountain Devil
This relatively small cute lizard is named a "Thorny Mountain Devil" Its quite a remarkable creature , it can absorb water up its legs. Apart from that, it and his tiny spiky claws that make a series of tiny holes in the sand and that is how it is symbolised in paintings. As mass of tiny dots.
Two paintings here of Thorny Mountain Devil Story
Is a good example of how the subtle combination of symbols can be difficult to intemperate . All the circles, they are site but different sites representing different parts to the story
