Is aboriginal art primitive?

In response to an article appeared in the previous week's edition of Montage on aboriginal art entitled "Primitive art shapes culture", one of our contributors Sunil Govinnage, who has been living in the city of Perth for 22 years, has sent an angry e-mail criticising the content, and particularly the title of the main feature published on April 25.

The crux of Govinnage's argument was that anyone who considers Aboriginal art as primitive is wrong as the very term provides a negative value judgement implying that some cultures may have super art.

Although we requested him to provide a response, he declined our request on the ground that he had not done any significant research on the subject. Since he had provided us with some useful references on Australian Aboriginal Art, we decided to provide an overview on Aboriginal people and ancient Aboriginal Art in Australia.

The rudimentary fact with regard to Australian Aborigines is that they are not mere dark skinned people belonging to the Australoid group. They are a group of people who are identified by the Australian law as being members of a group of people who share a common biological ancestry to the original occupants of the Australian continent.

Indigenous Australians

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the indigenous people (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders) "live in all parts of Australia, from the large cities to small country towns and very remote communities. They speak a multitude of languages and belong to hundreds of distinct descent groups. Commonly, however, many of Australia's Indigenous people experience conditions of economic and social disadvantage. "

The ABS has reported that in "2008, there were 520,350 Indigenous people" living in Australia representing 2.5% of the total Australian population.

According to the ABS "there were differences in the distribution of the Indigenous population [cross Australia]. In 2008, just over two-thirds (68%) of Indigenous people lived outside the major cities, with 44% living in regional areas and 24% living in remote (or very remote) areas. More than half of the Indigenous population lived in either New South Wales (30%) or Queensland (28%), with another quarter living in either Western Australia (13%) or the Northern Territory (12%)."

Australian Aborigines have migrated from somewhere in Asia at least over 30,000 years ago. Though they comprise 500-600 distinct groups, aboriginal people possess some unifying links. Among these are strong spiritual beliefs that tie them to the land; a tribal culture of storytelling and art; and, like other indigenous populations, a difficult colonial history.

Aboriginal art

A significant fact is that Aboriginal art is not confined in any part of the large Island continent and in particular Aboriginal rock art stretches back thousands of years. These works are a part of a tradition of painting and engraving undertaken by unknown artists thousands of years ago. Some of the oldest surviving Aboriginal rock art discovered so far are the rock engravings in the Pilbara Region in Western Australia and in the Olary Region of South Australia. Some of these paintings may be as much as 40,000 years old.

In a far off location such as Arnhem Land in Northern territory, and Central Australia the symbols and images painted on rock also appear in other forms such as painting on bark or canvas suggesting a continuing tradition passed on to the present generation. Although all the Australian Aborigines did share a very similar way of life and beliefs across the large continent, they represented unique groups who had their unique languages, locations, legends, histories and rituals. As a result, there is a diversity representing a wide variety of styles and subjects depicted in the rock art throughout the continent.

For instance, the Wandjina paintings of the Kimberley in north-western parts of Western Australia are believed to be the powerful creator figures themselves. The folklore around these suggests the creators of these are none other than those who were able to control rain and natural disasters like floods and storms.

Some of the painted images have been carved out in ancient cave rocks as human in shape with large bodies outlined in bright colours such as red, with large eyes but no signs of mouths and 'haloes' around heads with signs of cloud and lightning. These descriptions are undoubtedly bringing some interpretations similar to Sigiriya Frescoes (circa 473-491 AD) where some of the female figures have been described as mega latha and vidyu latha symbolising the rain clouds and lightning.

According to the religious and cultural beliefs of the Aborigines, some of these images are of ancestral beings and present on the rock walls since mythical times. According to their belief, human beings did not paint these images but were produced by ancient ancestors settling into the cave walls.

Aboriginal people of western Arnhem Land share folklore suggesting that their Mimi rock figures have been painted not by humans but by those spirits of Mimi group. These ancient paintings are usually in red representing elegant, stick-like human figures in action engaged in running, fighting, dancing, hunting and jumping. These poses are very different to the remains of Sigiriya where female figures posing in as models for an artist.

Recent discovery

Despite harsh weather and the colonial legacy ancient Aboriginal Art work is still being discovered even in and around major cities in Australia. In May, 2003 scientists and archaeologists from the Australian Museum uncovered a 4,000-year-old Aboriginal rock art site at a place called Eagles Reach which is located about 160 kilometers northwest of Sydney in the wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park. The discovery include more than 200 well-preserved images previously hidden by the region's rugged and inhospitable landscape. However, the history of the last 200 years has largely contributed to the loss of land and of traditional beliefs and practices of Australian Aborigines.

Despite these drawbacks, the rock paintings and rock carvings found in various parts of the continent have great symbolic value to Aboriginal people. They are regarded as a link with their lost past but is an integral part of Aboriginal heritage; a living record of a lost civilization and history, and an inspirational source of identity and cannot be considered as primitive art.

What is pertinent here is that some 'key' words such as 'primitive' in this particular instance albeit not intentional yields connotations amounting to value judgements. For instance, the word 'primitive' at rudimentary level connotes a host of meanings such as 'unrefined', 'not so developed' and 'uncouth'. Although the Aboriginal Art may be 'primitive' from an individual vantage point, the assumption could well be wrong.