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Aboriginal Art & Culture
Examines Aboriginal Australian art, including architecture, sculpture, pottery, textiles, and jewelry and explains what we can learn about Aboriginal Australian culture while examining these art forms.
- GenresArt
56 pages, Library Binding
First published August 28, 2005
5 people want to read
About the author
Jane Bingham
323 books17 followersJane M. Bingham spent most of her adult life teaching college students about children's literature at Oakland University, collecting and studying children's books from across history and around the world, and campaigning for better materials for children to read. After she retired from that career, she began writing children's books of her own. Bingham has since authored several nonfiction books that seek to explain contemporary issues to children, including divorce, the dangers of drug abuse, and the art and culture of civilizations around the world.
In Why Do Families Break Up? Bingham attempts to demystify the process of divorce for middle-school students. The book begins by examining some of the reasons a couple might decide to divorce, then moves on to explain the process of coping and moving on after a family separates. School Library Journal contributor Sharon A. Neal described the book as "supportive [and] unbiased" and noted, "Despite the nature of the topic, the book is hopeful."
Tiananmen Square: June 4, 1989 examines the studentled protest against China's Communist rulers that occurred there, in the middle of Beijing, in the spring of 1989. On June 4 the government mobilized the army, including tanks, to disperse the demonstrators, killing several of them in the process. "The excellent illustrations and clear narrative," Elizabeth Talbot wrote in School Library Journal, make Tiananmen Square a "good introduction" to the protest and its aftermath.
Bingham is the author of three installments in the "World Art and Culture" series, examining India, Africa, and Aboriginal Australia. Each book is brief, only fifty-six pages long, and "the texts are straightforward and concise," Gillian Engberg noted in a review of AfricanArt and Culture for Booklist. Despite this brevity, much information is packed into each volume. Bingham opens each book with a chapter about the history of the region, from thousands of years ago to the present day, and follows with chapters about the art forms practiced in that area. These include architecture, basket-weaving, creating musical instruments, dance, and body modification (tattoos, piercings, and the like), among others. Indian Art and Culture also includes a chapter on one of that country's modern art forms, the "Bollywood" movie industry. As Donna Cardon noted in School Library Journal, "The texts not only describe the art forms and how they are created, but also explain the role that art plays in the cultures."
Bingham once wrote: "In 1981 I completed a trip which took me to American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, South Africa, and Swaziland. I collected examples of children's books along the way and became acutely aware of the need for books and other teaching resources in many developing countries. I was especially impressed with the variety of India's and Bangladesh's children's books—in spite of the difficulties their creators often encounter in publishing and promoting them. I also found that becoming aware of and enjoying the literature from other countries enriched my appreciation of American children's books. I found myself asking over and over why we, with the plethora we have to choose from, too often opt for the mediocre rather than the 'rarest kind of best.' As educators, creators, and consumers, we all too often forget to think of children's books as real literature because we fail to apply critical literary standards. It is my hope that my teaching and writing will draw attention to the continuing need for quality books in our own country and will also encourage American students and teachers to adopt a wider, world view of children's literature."
In Why Do Families Break Up? Bingham attempts to demystify the process of divorce for middle-school students. The book begins by examining some of the reasons a couple might decide to divorce, then moves on to explain the process of coping and moving on after a family separates. School Library Journal contributor Sharon A. Neal described the book as "supportive [and] unbiased" and noted, "Despite the nature of the topic, the book is hopeful."
Tiananmen Square: June 4, 1989 examines the studentled protest against China's Communist rulers that occurred there, in the middle of Beijing, in the spring of 1989. On June 4 the government mobilized the army, including tanks, to disperse the demonstrators, killing several of them in the process. "The excellent illustrations and clear narrative," Elizabeth Talbot wrote in School Library Journal, make Tiananmen Square a "good introduction" to the protest and its aftermath.
Bingham is the author of three installments in the "World Art and Culture" series, examining India, Africa, and Aboriginal Australia. Each book is brief, only fifty-six pages long, and "the texts are straightforward and concise," Gillian Engberg noted in a review of AfricanArt and Culture for Booklist. Despite this brevity, much information is packed into each volume. Bingham opens each book with a chapter about the history of the region, from thousands of years ago to the present day, and follows with chapters about the art forms practiced in that area. These include architecture, basket-weaving, creating musical instruments, dance, and body modification (tattoos, piercings, and the like), among others. Indian Art and Culture also includes a chapter on one of that country's modern art forms, the "Bollywood" movie industry. As Donna Cardon noted in School Library Journal, "The texts not only describe the art forms and how they are created, but also explain the role that art plays in the cultures."
Bingham once wrote: "In 1981 I completed a trip which took me to American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, South Africa, and Swaziland. I collected examples of children's books along the way and became acutely aware of the need for books and other teaching resources in many developing countries. I was especially impressed with the variety of India's and Bangladesh's children's books—in spite of the difficulties their creators often encounter in publishing and promoting them. I also found that becoming aware of and enjoying the literature from other countries enriched my appreciation of American children's books. I found myself asking over and over why we, with the plethora we have to choose from, too often opt for the mediocre rather than the 'rarest kind of best.' As educators, creators, and consumers, we all too often forget to think of children's books as real literature because we fail to apply critical literary standards. It is my hope that my teaching and writing will draw attention to the continuing need for quality books in our own country and will also encourage American students and teachers to adopt a wider, world view of children's literature."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 21, 2018
The largish format book World Art and Culture: Aboriginal Art and Culture from 2005 is an excellent introduction to Aboriginal Art, and covers all the different genres. It is part of a series of maybe a dozen books, each of which focuses on representing the art, decorative techniques and functional design elements of a particular culture. From the examples featured, the text deduces facts about the culture - in this case the indigenous Australian culture - its history, environment and context. The materials and resources used for the Art works are shown to be necessarily derived from the particular Aboriginal environment and patterns of daily life, allied to its cultural history and technology. As well as these factors, the indigenous Australian's ideas and beliefs are seen to be crucial to the creative process and the works created.
In this way, the book provides an insight into the Aboriginal culture itself, despite the fact that many of its traditions and mores are still steeped in secrecy, and never to be revealed to outsiders. After the "Contents", the "Introduction" briefly explains the history of indigenous Australians.
Aboriginal peoples are named literally from the Latin "ab origine" or "from the beginning" and have inhabited Australia for over 40,000 years. The book explains about the significance of the Ancestor Spirits and the Dreamtime; how these beliefs underpin the whole of Aboriginal culture. The early explorations of the continent by Aboriginal peoples are mentioned, alongside the later visitors and settlers from the mid-17th century Indonesians, and 18th century Britons, starting with Captain Cook in 1770. It explains about the massacres where over a period of about 150 years over 80 percent of Aboriginal people were killed. It also goes into the more recent political movements and laws put in place to attempt a kind of restitution, up to the National Reconciliation Week in 2000. This is obviously a shocking part of the book, to anyone not conversant with Australia's history, but it is important to include these 6 pages to give a context and basis for the further coverage.
Here are brief details about the following chapters:
The chapter Beliefs and Traditions" is about the Ancestor spirits, special spirits, the Dreamtime, the creation of Uluru, the tracks, stories and secret knowledge.
"Rock Art" covers the earliest discovered rock paintings, starting with the stencils of Arnhem land, which may be around 20,000 years old, and the dynamic rock engravings in red ochre.
As well as these early forms of rock art in South Australia, there are the elongated Guyon figures of the Kimberley regions of North West Australia. A much later group of cave paintings from around 1500 BCE were the Wangjina paintings, very stylised paintings of Ancestor spirits usually painted in black and white. These two pigments are derived from charcoal and pipe clay, whereas the earth colours are red and yellow ochre. These four natural pigments are the basis for all traditional Aboriginal art.
The third tradition of rock paintings is also in the Kimberley region. They are the Wuruluwurulu paintings, which depict mischievous tricksters, or sorcerer spirits. Their equivalent in the Arnham land are the Mimi figures. Then there are also so-called "X-ray paintings", revealing the internal organs of humans and animals.
There are photographs and illustrations of examples of these works, their spiritual significance, and also explanations of the early European attitudes towards them (which including renaming them, as they did the sacred site of Uluru, or Ayers Rock).
The section entitled "Ground Art" explains about sand drawing which incorporates different motifs, shapes and symbols. A simple circle, boomerang "U" shape, or a line, may have a different meaning according to both its context, and the story being told. Such basic geometric elements are always present in rock art, sand drawings, and most of the genres which followed. There are patterns and prints included here. There is a photograph showing a contemporary artist, Clifford Possum Tjapaltijarri at work on a large-scale traditional piece. However, along with Tim Leura Tjapaltijarri, these two brothers usually now work on huge canvases producing images of "dreaming tracks". They use muted colours, but have developed a technique whereby the images seem to shimmer with a myriad of tiny dots.
The chapter on "Painting" also includes paintings on bark and board, which usually tell stories about rituals and ceremonies. Sometimes cross-hatched patterns are used, to give a shimmering brilliant effect, to reflect the power of the Ancestor Spirits. Only the one tribe associated with a particular Ancestor Spirit is ever allowed to depict the image of that Ancestor Spirit in their work.
There is an inset panel about the artist River Thomas (1926-98), who was one of the first indigenous Australian artists to have international appeal and exhibit his work all over the world. Geoffrey Bardon and the Papunya school, the Western Desert Art movement, which started in 1971, is also featured. Ginger Riley Munduwalwala, from Northern Australia is an example of a traditional Aboriginal artist who worked solely with ochre colours until 1987, and then began using acrylic paints in reds, blues and greens, to depict the spirits of the Sea Eagle and the Serpent Creator in his native river landscapes.
Other artists from this time experimented with new colours and techniques such as acrylic paint and batik, following the Papunya painters' lead. There are those in Utopia, including Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910-96) who only began painting in her late 70's. There is also the Yuendumu cooperative in Central Australia which started in the 1980's.
This is followed by a section on "Sculpture and Carving". Sculptures in wood can be found all over Australia. Ancestor Spirits are represented in the carved grave posts of the Tiwi people of Bathurst and Melville Islands, which are carved into a stylised human shape. The Cape York sculptures, of Northern Queensland, are small wooden sculptures featuring native animals, objects or spirits, and are to be used in ceremonies. There are also the small "toas" of Lake Eyre, probably used to mark the way, hollow log coffins, and carved boab nuts and emus' eggs.
"Weapons and Shields" now feature very much in the tourist industry, and our perceptions of these are probably from very recent examples. But the pokerwork patterns and semi-abstract designs on weapons such as boomerangs, and the elaborate carvings on shields in New South Wales and Victoria, are rooted in a very traditional form of Aboriginal Art.
"Body Art" such as nose-pins, necklaces, pendants, armbands, head-dresses, feathers and strings, feature prominently in the ancient rock paintings, but nowadays the decorations are usually only for ceremonial wear. Barks, seeds and shells are all incorporated. Body painting using clay, ochre and feathers is also reserved for special and significant rituals.
The section on "Ceremonies, Songs, and Dance" deals with remembering the Dreamtime, initiation rituals, mortuary rituals, the Morning star ceremony and contemporary music. The Aboriginal Peoples have guarded these rituals carefully, so there is little known about the details, or their significance, to outsiders. From the 1840's onwards, "Corroborees" were performed for Europeans, to satisfy the general curiosity, but it is thought that these are just a general celebration performed for a wider public, as opposed to a significant ritual. Contemporary music such as the group Yothu Yindi, whose music has political themes, blend the traditional didgeridoo's indigenous rhythm and sounds with Western rock music.
"Baskets and Fibre Art" is a section about each region's own techniques and the materials used for functional items. It includes details of fibre objects such as decorated dilly bags from Arnhem Land, which are used as carrying bags, the baskets and blankets from Queensland, and the eel traps, fish scoops and baskets from South East Australia.
There is then a chapter called "Other Media", which explains that pottery is not a traditional Aboriginal craft, although some contemporary artists have begun to use the technique. Batik work was begun in the 1970's, as was painting car doors, posters, writing and film.
A further final chapter entitled "Cross-currents", goes into the changing attitudes; the variety of Aboriginal and European influences. It details how both opposing and combining forces result in a new generation and new approaches, giving examples of contemporary Art with a message. There are the decorative lithoprints of Margaret Preston (1875-1963). There are also the landscape paintings of Albert Manatjira, incorporating stark bold shapes and colours, and the semi-abstract primary-coloured paintings of Sally Morgan, which appear to be deceptively attractive until studied more closely, when a strong political message becomes evident.
The book finishes satisfyingly with the essential reference tools of "Further Resources", a "Glossary" and an "Index". Although intended for older children or young adults, this book contains a wealth of information written in an accessible style. It is attractively produced, full-colour throughout, and with plenty of visual illustration. There are also boxes to feature and highlight specific bits of information.
The author Jane M. Bingham formerly taught children's literature at University. She collected children's books worldwide, studying their history, and began to recognise a need for better materials for children to read. Two or three of the other books in this series are also by Jane M. Bingham, and she has written many more nonfiction books, several of which aim to explain contemporary issues to children. Her clear unbiased text is well worth reading for young people and adults alike.
In this way, the book provides an insight into the Aboriginal culture itself, despite the fact that many of its traditions and mores are still steeped in secrecy, and never to be revealed to outsiders. After the "Contents", the "Introduction" briefly explains the history of indigenous Australians.
Aboriginal peoples are named literally from the Latin "ab origine" or "from the beginning" and have inhabited Australia for over 40,000 years. The book explains about the significance of the Ancestor Spirits and the Dreamtime; how these beliefs underpin the whole of Aboriginal culture. The early explorations of the continent by Aboriginal peoples are mentioned, alongside the later visitors and settlers from the mid-17th century Indonesians, and 18th century Britons, starting with Captain Cook in 1770. It explains about the massacres where over a period of about 150 years over 80 percent of Aboriginal people were killed. It also goes into the more recent political movements and laws put in place to attempt a kind of restitution, up to the National Reconciliation Week in 2000. This is obviously a shocking part of the book, to anyone not conversant with Australia's history, but it is important to include these 6 pages to give a context and basis for the further coverage.
Here are brief details about the following chapters:
The chapter Beliefs and Traditions" is about the Ancestor spirits, special spirits, the Dreamtime, the creation of Uluru, the tracks, stories and secret knowledge.
"Rock Art" covers the earliest discovered rock paintings, starting with the stencils of Arnhem land, which may be around 20,000 years old, and the dynamic rock engravings in red ochre.
As well as these early forms of rock art in South Australia, there are the elongated Guyon figures of the Kimberley regions of North West Australia. A much later group of cave paintings from around 1500 BCE were the Wangjina paintings, very stylised paintings of Ancestor spirits usually painted in black and white. These two pigments are derived from charcoal and pipe clay, whereas the earth colours are red and yellow ochre. These four natural pigments are the basis for all traditional Aboriginal art.
The third tradition of rock paintings is also in the Kimberley region. They are the Wuruluwurulu paintings, which depict mischievous tricksters, or sorcerer spirits. Their equivalent in the Arnham land are the Mimi figures. Then there are also so-called "X-ray paintings", revealing the internal organs of humans and animals.
There are photographs and illustrations of examples of these works, their spiritual significance, and also explanations of the early European attitudes towards them (which including renaming them, as they did the sacred site of Uluru, or Ayers Rock).
The section entitled "Ground Art" explains about sand drawing which incorporates different motifs, shapes and symbols. A simple circle, boomerang "U" shape, or a line, may have a different meaning according to both its context, and the story being told. Such basic geometric elements are always present in rock art, sand drawings, and most of the genres which followed. There are patterns and prints included here. There is a photograph showing a contemporary artist, Clifford Possum Tjapaltijarri at work on a large-scale traditional piece. However, along with Tim Leura Tjapaltijarri, these two brothers usually now work on huge canvases producing images of "dreaming tracks". They use muted colours, but have developed a technique whereby the images seem to shimmer with a myriad of tiny dots.
The chapter on "Painting" also includes paintings on bark and board, which usually tell stories about rituals and ceremonies. Sometimes cross-hatched patterns are used, to give a shimmering brilliant effect, to reflect the power of the Ancestor Spirits. Only the one tribe associated with a particular Ancestor Spirit is ever allowed to depict the image of that Ancestor Spirit in their work.
There is an inset panel about the artist River Thomas (1926-98), who was one of the first indigenous Australian artists to have international appeal and exhibit his work all over the world. Geoffrey Bardon and the Papunya school, the Western Desert Art movement, which started in 1971, is also featured. Ginger Riley Munduwalwala, from Northern Australia is an example of a traditional Aboriginal artist who worked solely with ochre colours until 1987, and then began using acrylic paints in reds, blues and greens, to depict the spirits of the Sea Eagle and the Serpent Creator in his native river landscapes.
Other artists from this time experimented with new colours and techniques such as acrylic paint and batik, following the Papunya painters' lead. There are those in Utopia, including Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910-96) who only began painting in her late 70's. There is also the Yuendumu cooperative in Central Australia which started in the 1980's.
This is followed by a section on "Sculpture and Carving". Sculptures in wood can be found all over Australia. Ancestor Spirits are represented in the carved grave posts of the Tiwi people of Bathurst and Melville Islands, which are carved into a stylised human shape. The Cape York sculptures, of Northern Queensland, are small wooden sculptures featuring native animals, objects or spirits, and are to be used in ceremonies. There are also the small "toas" of Lake Eyre, probably used to mark the way, hollow log coffins, and carved boab nuts and emus' eggs.
"Weapons and Shields" now feature very much in the tourist industry, and our perceptions of these are probably from very recent examples. But the pokerwork patterns and semi-abstract designs on weapons such as boomerangs, and the elaborate carvings on shields in New South Wales and Victoria, are rooted in a very traditional form of Aboriginal Art.
"Body Art" such as nose-pins, necklaces, pendants, armbands, head-dresses, feathers and strings, feature prominently in the ancient rock paintings, but nowadays the decorations are usually only for ceremonial wear. Barks, seeds and shells are all incorporated. Body painting using clay, ochre and feathers is also reserved for special and significant rituals.
The section on "Ceremonies, Songs, and Dance" deals with remembering the Dreamtime, initiation rituals, mortuary rituals, the Morning star ceremony and contemporary music. The Aboriginal Peoples have guarded these rituals carefully, so there is little known about the details, or their significance, to outsiders. From the 1840's onwards, "Corroborees" were performed for Europeans, to satisfy the general curiosity, but it is thought that these are just a general celebration performed for a wider public, as opposed to a significant ritual. Contemporary music such as the group Yothu Yindi, whose music has political themes, blend the traditional didgeridoo's indigenous rhythm and sounds with Western rock music.
"Baskets and Fibre Art" is a section about each region's own techniques and the materials used for functional items. It includes details of fibre objects such as decorated dilly bags from Arnhem Land, which are used as carrying bags, the baskets and blankets from Queensland, and the eel traps, fish scoops and baskets from South East Australia.
There is then a chapter called "Other Media", which explains that pottery is not a traditional Aboriginal craft, although some contemporary artists have begun to use the technique. Batik work was begun in the 1970's, as was painting car doors, posters, writing and film.
A further final chapter entitled "Cross-currents", goes into the changing attitudes; the variety of Aboriginal and European influences. It details how both opposing and combining forces result in a new generation and new approaches, giving examples of contemporary Art with a message. There are the decorative lithoprints of Margaret Preston (1875-1963). There are also the landscape paintings of Albert Manatjira, incorporating stark bold shapes and colours, and the semi-abstract primary-coloured paintings of Sally Morgan, which appear to be deceptively attractive until studied more closely, when a strong political message becomes evident.
The book finishes satisfyingly with the essential reference tools of "Further Resources", a "Glossary" and an "Index". Although intended for older children or young adults, this book contains a wealth of information written in an accessible style. It is attractively produced, full-colour throughout, and with plenty of visual illustration. There are also boxes to feature and highlight specific bits of information.
The author Jane M. Bingham formerly taught children's literature at University. She collected children's books worldwide, studying their history, and began to recognise a need for better materials for children to read. Two or three of the other books in this series are also by Jane M. Bingham, and she has written many more nonfiction books, several of which aim to explain contemporary issues to children. Her clear unbiased text is well worth reading for young people and adults alike.
July 26, 2018
Lots of inspiration to look up art/artists mentioned in the text.
May 9, 2015
Personal Reaction: I liked how this book had a lot of different sections and talked about a lot of different aspects of Aboriginal art and culture. It is very informative about a culture that most children will not know a lot about. It explains why that particular culture believes the things that they do, and why they do cultural things that they do. This will help children understand a culture that is very different, instead of just thinking of it as strange or wrong.
Purposes:
- ages 8-12
Read Aloud to Make Curricular Connections
- could be read during art class and then children could practice making their own Aboriginal-inspired artwork
- could be read while learning about other country's different cultures, in order to gain a better global awareness
For Nonfiction
- this book has a lot of unstaged photographs from everyday life which gives it an authentic feel
- it gives clear descriptions, and then sometimes further information in text boxes to the side
- it sheds light on a culture that a lot of people do not know much about
Other
- This book has a diverse perspective, as it is about a culture that does not get a lot of attention in most American schools
Purposes:
- ages 8-12
Read Aloud to Make Curricular Connections
- could be read during art class and then children could practice making their own Aboriginal-inspired artwork
- could be read while learning about other country's different cultures, in order to gain a better global awareness
For Nonfiction
- this book has a lot of unstaged photographs from everyday life which gives it an authentic feel
- it gives clear descriptions, and then sometimes further information in text boxes to the side
- it sheds light on a culture that a lot of people do not know much about
Other
- This book has a diverse perspective, as it is about a culture that does not get a lot of attention in most American schools
October 27, 2018
An overall look at how art plays a part in some of the Indigenous Nations of Australia.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews