Aboriginal Art Purposes

Spiritual Art

Conceptual Art

Dreamtime

The Purpose of Aboriginal Art

The Purpose of Aboriginal Art

“ We are painting, as we have always done, to demonstrate our continuing link with our country and the rights and responsibilities we have to it. We paint to show the rest of the world that we own this country and the country owns us. Our painting is a political act.” (Galarrwuy Yunupingu)

Art is a central part of aboriginal life and is intimately connected to land, law and religious belief. Nearly all aboriginal art is related to the landscape and often takes on conceptual rolls such as maps or stories. Ex. A rock painting of a Rainbow Serpent is not just a picture of a 'Rainbow Serpent'. It is a manifestation of the Rainbow Serpent - she resides in the painting, and will come out and devour you if you behave inappropriately towards the painting. It is also used to mark territory, record history, and tell stories about the dreamtime (Aboriginals believe in two forms of time. Two parallel streams of activity. One is the daily objective activity ... The other is an infinite spiritual cycle called the "dreamtime," more real than reality itself. Whatever happens in the dreamtime establishes the values, symbols, and laws of Aboriginal society. Some people of unusual spiritual powers have contact with the dreamtime.)

Impressionism Overview

Impressionism was a 19th century art movement named after, Impression, Sunrise, a piece by, Claude Monet.

Characteristics of Impressionism are:
Visible brush strokes
Open Composition
Emphasis on light and its changing qualities (usually in order to capture the passing of time)
Ordinary subject matter
Movement
[Photographs inspired paintings that captured an overall moment in time, whereas earlier works focused on a main idea and everything else in the piece was completely secondary.]

Artists attempted to capture the essence or true-life reaction a human has to seeing an object as opposed to the solid image of it. This is indicated by the brush stroke patterns, attention to movement and attention to what visually captivates the eye (color, light, etc.)
Artists began to take their work outside into the real world as opposed to sitting in their studios, termed plein-air (outdoors) painting.

Impressionism was not widely accepted in its beginning in that it defied the norm. The younger undercurrent of artists behind the impressionistic movement included: “A core group of young realists, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, who had studied under Charles Gleyre, became friends and often painted together. They soon were joined by Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, and Armand Guillaumin” (Wikipedia). These artists only received moderate financial rewards for the work, but did gain more public acceptance in proceeding time.

Invisibile Children Diorama

There has been a devastating war waging in Uganda for the past 23 years. It all started when a woman by the name of Alice Lakwena decided to rebel against the government. When she was exiled, her cousin took over the movement but began using much more aggressive and disagreeable tactics. When the troop numbers for the resistance became too low, he began to recruit children to the regime. Over 90 percent of the LRA's forces began as child soldiers. Today, hope for peace has been entertained time and time again, but nothing solid has come into view. Efforts by the US, Canada and European forces have stepped in to help alleviate the situation. Continued action needs to take place in order to establish peace for a generation of children that has never known it, education and economic stability.