What are Indigenous art forms?

Indigenous art forms in Australia cover a wide range of media, both traditional and contemporary. They include rock engraving and rock painting, bark painting, body decoration, weaving from natural fibres, carving in wood and stone, ground painting, sand drawing, dot painting on canvas and board, photography, film, dance, song, and digital media.

Rock art is the oldest form, with sites at Murujuga in Western Australia and Gabarnmung in Arnhem Land dated to more than 40,000 years. Bark painting from Arnhem Land, made with ochre on stringybark, has been collected by museums since the late 1800s and remains a strong tradition today. Pukumani poles from the Tiwi Islands, totemic carved wooden posts erected at funeral ceremonies, are now also made for public exhibition. Across the desert, sand drawings trace songlines and ceremonial designs into the earth.

Contemporary forms emerged through the Western Desert movement at Papunya in 1971 and have spread to art centres across Australia. Major centres include Buku-Larrnggay Mulka at Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land, Maningrida Arts and Culture in central Arnhem Land, Warmun Art Centre in the East Kimberley, Tjala Arts at Amata in the APY Lands, and Papunya Tula Artists. Each centre is owned and run by the artists' community and follows the Indigenous Art Code, which sets ethical standards for fair dealing and authenticity.

Beyond visual art, Indigenous performance traditions cover dance theatre (the Bangarra Dance Theatre, founded in 1989, tours nationally and internationally), film (directors including Warwick Thornton, Rachel Perkins, Beck Cole, and Ivan Sen produce widely acclaimed work), and music (Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach, Christine Anu, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, and Baker Boy). The annual Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, held in Darwin since 1984, are the country's most prestigious Indigenous art prize.