• I SIMBOLI ABORIGENI
NELL’ARTE •

One of the things I noticed when I first came into contact with Australian Aboriginal art is the vast presence of Aboriginal symbols.

Geometric patterns such as circles, lines and curves are literally everywhere and are perhaps the feature more interesting but less known of this current.

Symbolism in Aboriginal art

Not everyone knows, Indeed, that gods hide behind these symbols very ancient and profound meanings. We have to go back to the beginning of Aboriginal civilisation, arrived on Australian territory migrating from the Indian subcontinent approximately 60.000 anni orsono.

The recurring symbolism in Aboriginal works of art is the visual translation of stories of Dreamtime (lett. “the time of dreams”), that is, the period in which Aboriginal people believe the world was created. Si tratta di storie tramandate oralmente per millenni di generazione in generazione.

Because of their typical nomadic nature, Aboriginal people have not May developed one form of writing. However, together with the stories of Dreamtime, the elders of the various tribes were (and I still am!) usual draw symbols in the sand, in order to make the narrative more engaging and memorable. And these Aboriginal symbols are precisely the same ones that were taken from the contemporary artists nelle loro opere su tela e tavola.

Examples of Aboriginal symbols

Vediamo ora qualche esempio concreto.

This painting is divided into three sectors: in the center there are the Tingarri, a sort of ancient god-ancestors, and at the two ends are theirs could who bring food as an offering. The Tingarri are separated from their wives by these two lines, representing locks of women's hair. The work describes a religious rite.

In this other painting, Instead, we find it in the center two men eating a kangaroo, surrounded by burnt shrubs. At the vertical ends of the central part we find two wells and four groups of spears. The canvas depicts a scene of hunting.

At the center of this last painting we find the camps of another group of ancestor gods, i Budgerigar. Around them there are sand dunes surrounded by typical desert vegetation. The work in this case represents i trips, travel.

I'm sure from now on, if you ever come across a work of Aboriginal art, the you will observe with different eyes and you will strain your eyes to grasp all the Aboriginal symbols!