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Art
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- the art was regarded as an integral part of life
- markings and designs have totemic significance
- paintings tell stories and they reflect what happens around them
- Rock Engraving:
- about 20.000 years old
- they engrave concentric circles, sinuous lines and animal tracks in the rocks
- Bark painting: (Zeichen in Baumrinde ritzen)
- most well known Aboriginal art form
- could be done only in areas with a lot of trees
- the colours were made from rocks, clay (Ton), charcoal (Holzkohle)
- Aborigines use colours like red, brown, black & white
- Symbols:
- Aborigines have a lot of symbols to make their interpretation easy
- but only the people who are involved in creating ground paintings know the meaning of the
symbols
- ~ : this symbol can mean a snake, running water or a lightning
- concentric circles: this symbol can mean a camp-fire, a cave, a rock-hole or a mountain
- Ground paintings:
- men:
- there are only men who can create ground paintings
- after an extensive and often very painful ritual, they are competent enough to paint the
designs correctly
- women:
- have similar styles of body markings
- limited numbers of sacred (heilig) objects and dances
- they mark the sand with leaves, sticks or their hands
Mythology
- Aborigines have a lot of different ceremonies
- the designs aren't considered (betrachten) as dangerous
- in ceremonies, when the Aborigines sing the correct songs, the dancers and paintings become
imbued (durchdringen) with supernatural powers
- in Aboriginal society are a lot of problems, for example that the people became sick and they
died
- the "medicine man" is a very powerful man
- he tried to remove the "evil" from the sick person with spells or with natural medicines of
plants
- medicine men still live in rock-holes or caves
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