The Stories Behind Aboriginal Art Styles from Different Regions

Aboriginal art is not one thing. Go to any gallery, look closely, and you’ll see a variety of styles, dot paintings, X-ray fish, cross-hatching on bark and minimalist works from the desert. Not all style is arbitrary. Each style comes from a specific place, the patters and designs (or lack thereof) inspired by the land, the Dreamtime stories believed to be found there and cultivated over thousands of years through cultural practice taught from parents to children.

Once you know the styles and their origins, the way you perceive the work changes. It’s not just a pattern but a visually appealing language created over millennia.

Central Desert Dot Paintings: Where Most People Start

The dot painting style from Central Australia, Papunya, Yuendumu and the APY Lands, is probably what people think of when they consider Aboriginal art. Those spiraled patterns of dots, ochre based earth tones, sometimes weaved throughout whole canvases in intricate spirals or concentric circles.

The thing is this style was not on canvas before the 1970s. Prior to 1970s, these shapes were sand drawings and drawn on bodies for ceremony. When the men and women from Papunya Tula began creating these designs on boards and canvas, they took sacred imagery and transformed it into something unfamiliar. In fact, some of these early works created controversy amongst communities that felt their ceremonial knowledge was revealed to too many outsiders.

Modern Central Desert paintings tend to use dots as a means of obscuring what lies beneath, making an interesting surface while keeping literal depths and meanings private. Dots signify the stars, the seeds of fruit, the flowers of growing plants or merely serve as a mask for what is underneath, sacred symbols not for public viewing. Central Desert artists have a limited palette to use as many colors can be found in the Central Desert; reds, ochres, whites, blacks, all are mixed from pigments found in nature.

Artlandish shows work across regions which matters when trying to understand geographical differences and find your own personal connection.

Arnhem Land: The X-Ray Tradition

Travel up to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory and things look different. The art style looks entirely unfamiliar – a bark painting of animals in X-ray style where you see their insides, organs, bones and spiritual essences, barramundi, turtles and goannas.

This isn’t new style either. This style exists in thousands-of-year-old rock art found throughout Arnhem Land. Artists use bark prepared by themselves (dehydrated eucalyptus trees in the wet season, smoothed) for texture canvas does not have.

The X-ray style does not show the anatomy but creates imagery that shows what makes animals spiritually significant. A barramundi shows its spinal column; its innards; the geometric patterns which help define its connection to clans responsible for its creation; its spirits.

Arnhem Land artists also use rarrk, the fine cross-hatched lines that fill parts of the painting. Each clan has rarrk they can use based on family lineage. This is where it gets personal, the rarrk you see are their signatures from generations ago.

Western Desert: Bold and Minimalist

Western Desert communities (Balgo; Fitzroy Crossing) create works that people often find strange. This can mean bold works, great swaths of paint applied, bright combinations of colors not belonging to the “subdued” palette people expect from Aboriginal art.

The communities have similar stories to those of Central Desert painters however by isolation and remoteness (the country is harsher) their style evolved differently with little interaction with art selling communities early on. Later on, when Western Desert communities painted for outsiders, they showed their powerful energy.

Rover Thomas is one of the most respected artists of the Western Desert region who painted vast landscapes reduced to simple shapes, a mountain; a waterhole; a path representing where an ancestor walked on Country before it existed in its contemporary form. This tonal field creates compositions along with painters like Kudditji Kngwarreye who approach borderline abstract expressionism with dashes and dots that become thick surfaces.

Kimberley: Where Wandjina Watches

The Kimberley region possesses one of the most recognizable styles, the Wandjina figures – spirits that are large haired with eyes and no mouth. They represent weather systems with rays coming out from behind them in rainstorms while roaming the Country.

Only certain people can paint Wandjina because family lines dictate certain land access. Painting Wandjina comes with serious cultural protocols as active images, not just decoration but important occurrences. Wandjina are believed to have created the land outside and control what happens on it.

Artists painted them but then combined them with relevant topics, Bradshaw figures (Gwion Gwion), animals, parts of the land to show their connections with their ancestors still present today as part of remediation.

Tiwi Islands: Pattern and Personality

Off the coast of Darwin, Tiwi Island artists created their own distinct style which looks nothing like anything from the mainland. Tiwi art is bold, graphic and colorful – concentric circles abound, stripes dominate, dots line up in rows creating jipaninga that fill up space.

The aesthetic comes from body painting known as pukumani, art performed for dead people’s funerals, made for beach ceremonies, the deceased were covered in ceremonial paint. When Tiwi artists paint on canvas or sculptures inspired by their body painting traditions, they approach horror vacui, the fear of empty space which must be filled with energy rich patterns.

Tiwi art tends to be more abstract than narrative. While they patterns represent country it’s more rhythmical than actual borders. Bright colors play a part, ochres mix with modern pigments based on their whimsy; contrasting palettes you won’t find from desert pieces specifically.

Why Location Matters When You’re Looking at Aboriginal Art

These regional differences matter more than trivia for collectors; they help inform what you’re seeing and why it’s valuable. This isn’t just Aboriginal art; this is Anmatyerre art from Central Australia; Yolngu art from Northeast Arnhem Land, each comes with cultural protocols; visual languages; stories.

Once you know the area, you can see deeper connections; patterns emerge. You realize why certain symbols emerge; what color choices mean and how styles connect thousands-of-years-old practices finally recognized in this specific area. The land creates art literally and figuratively through history created in conjunction with generations living within that place.

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Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.