What is Aboriginal art?

Aboriginal art is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world, stretching back at least 65,000 years across the Australian continent. It includes rock engravings and rock paintings, bark paintings, body decoration, sand and ground drawings, weaving, carving, and contemporary work in acrylic paint, photography, film, and digital media.

The earliest known Aboriginal artwork is found at Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula) in Western Australia, where more than a million rock engravings record human, animal, and ceremonial figures. Other major rock-art sites include Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory, where galleries date back at least 20,000 years and depict animals long extinct in the area. Bark painting, particularly from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, uses ochre on stringybark and is a tradition central to ceremony and Tjukurpa (Dreaming) storytelling.

The contemporary Aboriginal art movement began in 1971 at the Western Desert community of Papunya, north-west of Alice Springs, where senior men began transferring traditional ceremonial designs onto board and canvas using acrylic paint. The Papunya Tula Artists co-operative, founded in 1972 by Geoffrey Bardon and the Pintupi and Luritja men of the community, became the foundation of what is now a global art movement. Senior artists like Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, and Rover Thomas command international auction prices in the millions.

Aboriginal art is governed by strict cultural protocols. Many designs are owned by particular families, clans, or ceremonial groups, and only certain people have the right to paint or describe them. The Indigenous Art Code, the work of organisations like Desart and the Association of Northern, Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists, and copyright law all protect artists from exploitation and counterfeit work. New citizens encountering Aboriginal art are encouraged to buy through reputable galleries that pay artists fairly and respect cultural authority.