Aboriginal in the Modern World

Embedded deeply in many aboriginal artistic traditions across the globe is the art of storytelling. Ancient narratives are often inspired by Dreamtime stories. In Australia, there are dreaming places. Ancient narratives have been carried into our today in many ways. For example, modern astronomers in naming asteroids often choose a name from the myth and lore of the many aboriginal cultures on Gaia. Stories that explain the land’s creation and spiritual laws.

Artists of aboriginal persuasion are often successful when blending traditional methods with contemporary materials or vice versa contemporary methods with traditional materials and with that inspiration, authenticity is offered to the global audience. Every person on the planet has a lineage that has never been longer, deeper. We are aboriginal to Gaia.

Contemporary Art: Identity through Stories and Symbols

We, as denizens of Gaia, we all have the power to assert cultural identity and express our experiences of resilience and empowerment in artworks through mediums now accessible to the many. Aboriginal contemporary art is one of the oldest artistic traditions globally, containing thousands of years of knowledge in stories. It is an inspiration to many contemporary artists, myself included, the ways in which the ways in which Australian Aboriginal culture persevered under very difficult circumstances and remained deeply linked to ancestral respect for and understanding of the Gaia. The Uluru Statement From The Heart is deeply humanitarian. It is understood, Fire is deep, gaia ancestry.

Ancient Symbols in Art are Powerful

Symbols in aboriginal art communicate powerful messages without spoken or written words because our subliminal space recognises their validity as intrinsic to the human experience. There are no squares in the Gaia. The arc of sky and horizon, the orbs of Sun and Moon, they are foundational to our universal consciousness and exist deep in all cultures across Gaia. They are universal.

Many symbols have been commonly used by textile artisans as a means of defining community and expressing cultural identity whether ancestral or modern. For many women, textiles are a meaningful medium that also provides opportunities for empowerment through economic independence. We all wear clothing. Even if no one buys the clothes you make, they can be your clothes which means you do need less bought clothing. Your circle may appreciate to be gifted such clothing in the fullness of time which may lead to negotiations in barter or coin. We live in cloth, we sleep in cloth.

Cultural Identity, Art and Truth

Art addresses social issues and cultural responsibility, challenging stereotypes to empower others. Art is connection. Australian Aboriginal Art has reclaimed identity for Aboriginal Australia after generations of displacement and discrimination. Authors of distinction have compiled from documentary evidence, a contrasting view to the “terra nullis” occupation of Australia, inception as a penal colony and then an invasion force. It has reinforced the connection to Gaia and the start up of indigenous businesses based on native produce. Art and truth are empowering. Learned and wise individuals crafted the Uluru Statement From The Heart which was rejected unceremoniously by the government of Malcom Turnbull in 2017.