What do the dots mean in Aboriginal art?

What do the dots mean in Aboriginal art?

Dots symbolise stars, sparks, burnt ground etc. as the base of an Aboriginal painting is the organisation of the earth and the ancestral connection with it. In the last 30 years of the Western Desert movement, Johnny Warangkula was the first to use dotting in his paintings as a background.

What do dots mean art?

Dots were used to in-fill designs. Dots were also useful to obscure certain information and associations that lay underneath the dotting. At this time, the Aboriginal artists were negotiating what aspects of stories were secret or sacred, and what aspect were in the public domain.

What is Australian Aboriginal iconography?

ICONOGRAPHY: AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ICONOGRAPHY. The substance of Aboriginal ceremonies and rituals consists of enactments of events from the Dreaming, or ancestral past, events that are conserved in the form of the songs, dances, designs, and sacred objects that belong to a particular clan or totemic cult group.

What cultures use dot painting?

Dot painting originated 40 years ago back in 1971. Geoffrey Bardon was assigned as an art teacher for the children of the Aboriginal people in Papunya, near Alice Springs. He noticed whilst the Aboriginal men were telling stories they would draw symbols in the sand.

What does the dot represent?

Lewis dot diagrams use dots arranged around the atomic symbol to represent the electrons in the outermost energy level of an atom. Single bonds are represented by a pair of dots or one line between atoms. Double bonds are represented by two pairs of dots or two lines between atoms.

Why are the dots important to Aboriginal art?

Behind the dots of Aboriginal Art Dot paintings are now internationally recognised as unique and integral to Australian Aboriginal Art. The simple dot style as well as cross hatching maybe beautifully aesthetic to the eye but has a far more hidden meaning and deeper purpose; to disguise the sacred meanings behind the stories in the paintings.

When did dot painting become popular in Australia?

Dot Painting and Desert Aboriginal Art. The dot painting style became the recognisable characteristic of desert Aboriginal art by the 1980s and the movement spread steadily to reach a range of the desert communities.

What is the symbol of the snake in Aboriginal art?

From the symbol of strength to the serpent of creation, the snake is a major character in many Aboriginal art stories. Throughout Australia’s indigenous communities, it is respected as a strong force within the animal kingdom.

Where did the dot art style come from?

Origin of Aboriginal Dot Art Style. Often seen in art works from the Central and Western Desert regions, Aboriginal dot painting stems from body painting for ceremony, from sand paintings and symbolic patterns carved on artefacts and rock galleries.