The importance of aboriginal art today

For decades, Aboriginal art prints were relegated to the compartment of primitive art, treated as the domain of ethnography and souvenirs. Today, the works of Aboriginal painters are considered the most important achievement of contemporary art in Australia. These paintings featuring aboriginal art prints decorate museum collections and break records at auctions. In 1983, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the first Aboriginal artist to receive The Alice Prize and in 2002 was awarded the prestigious Order of Australia. Aborigines are said to have the oldest unbroken artistic tradition in the world. Some of their rock paintings were made up to fifty thousand years ago. The desert itself was covered with drawings many times. For Aborigines art is an important part of their identity, and at the same time allows them to showcase their heritage.

What does aboriginal art represent?

In Papunya, ephemeral drawings created directly on the ground and the human body on the occasion of the ceremony were transferred to the walls and boards, and after some time also to stretchers. The most characteristic iconographic motif of the Pintupi painters are concentric rings connected to each other, often composed of dots. They form a kind of secret geometry. These and other patterns represent the Tjingari, that is, the journeys of the ancestors - men and women. It is not always possible to even clearly see what some elements mean, although they almost never remain purely abstract. Concentric circles can represent encampments, sacred rocks, or campfires. U-shaped forms symbolize people or ghosts. Paintings depicting sacred patterns related to male ceremonies have been hidden from the eyes of women and children for centuries. It was not until the 1990s that the female part of the community joined in painting and began presenting their own rituals and stories.

The popularity of Aboriginal art

Aboriginal art prints were so popularized that it became an object of desire not only in paintings, but also began to decorate clothes, dishes, jewellery, furniture, accessories, carpets and pillows. Not only art galleries, but also shops with gifts and souvenirs featuring aboriginal art prints are now very popular among tourists and the local population of Australia. At Raintree Art you can find huge and impressive selection of high-quality gifts and souvenirs with the theme of Aboriginal art. There are over 25 categories of beautiful thing for yourself or your special someone.