Aboriginal Face & Body Painting

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Aborigines who inhabit central Australia have inherited specific face painting designs from their ancestors. These designs are painted onto the face and body using ground ochre mixed with water. They are applied either in stripes or circles. Even the modern paintings of the Central and Western Desert are characterized by these specific designs. It seems the aboriginal tribes have devised an entirely new language of painting, using cryptic symbols for different things. Body painting, decoration and personal adornment traditionally carry deep spiritual significance for Australian Aboriginal people. Body painting is carried out within strict conventions that are primarily related to spiritual matters, although the creative nature of these activities is also acknowledged. The particular designs or motifs used by individuals reflect their social position and relationship to their family group and also to particular ancestors, totemic animals and tracts of land. People are not free to change their appearance at will; they must conform to respected patterns. In many situations individuals are completely transformed so that they 'become' the spirit ancestor they are portraying in dance.

While on the subject of Australia. Are you searching for adventure? Stunning beauty? Peace and tranquillity in which to make your tropical art? A warm, tropical climate? Others on such a quest have gravitated to these northern shores of Australia since the early days of European settlement. Often living in rough shacks, hastily thrown up on pristine beaches, beside waterfalls or hidden in the rainforest, they explored their vision with excitement, energy and dedication. Since time immemorial, their predecessors, the Australian aborigines, have daubed their bodies and painted or carved images on rock faces in ceremonial, cultural rituals.

 

Aboriginal art , still based on dreamtime stories, is highly valued by discerning collectors today. Being rather isolated and so far from southern cities, Tropical Australia , stretching thousands of kilometres from Broome in Western Australia through Darwin in the Northern Territory to Cairns in North Queensland, retains something of a frontier atmosphere.