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| Bark painting | |
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| Title | Bark painting |
Bark painting is an Indigenous artistic practice originating in Australia that uses prepared tree bark as a painted support. It is closely associated with the cultural expressions of communities across Arnhem Land, the Tiwi Islands, the Kimberley, and Cape York, and has been represented in national institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and international venues including the Tate Modern and the British Museum. The practice functions as both a material art form and a vehicle for transmitting ceremonial knowledge linked to particular clans, totems and creation narratives.
Bark painting emerged from longstanding ceremonial practices among Yolŋu, Kunwinjku, Gumatj, and other Aboriginal groups in Arnhem Land, the Tiwi people of Bathurst and Melville Islands, the Wunambal, and the Bininj people around Kakadu, and was observed by early collectors like Baldwin Spencer and Francis James Gillen during expeditions such as the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait. Missionaries and anthropologists including Leonard Woolley and Norman Tindale documented bark works in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bark paintings are embedded in systems of kinship, law and ceremonial exchange connected to events like funerary rites and public ceremonies overseen by elders and clan leaders associated with institutions such as the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Authority.
Artists prepare sheets of bark, typically from the eucalyptus genus such as the paperbark used near Arnhem Land, harvested under customary permissions often granted by elders or land councils similar to the Anindilyakwa Land Council. The bark is cleaned, flattened and cured over fire or with weights; pigments historically came from ochres sourced in places like the Tanami Desert and the Central Arnhem Land] ochre pits, white clay from riverbanks, charcoal and kaolin. Brushes were traditionally made from human hair, walrus or plant fibers, but later included commercial materials introduced via contact with missions like Missionaries of the Church Missionary Society and settlements such as Boongaree Island. Artists apply rarrk (cross-hatching) and x-ray motifs using fine line techniques that require steady handwork and tools analogous to those used in bark etchings seen in museum collections like the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
Iconographic elements often encode ancestral beings, totemic animals and creation events such as the journeys of creator beings connected to places registered with organizations like the Northern Land Council or events described in songs and ceremonies of elders recorded by ethnographers like Donald Thomson. Motifs include the Rainbow Serpent narratives related to sites in the Arnhem Land Plateau, waterhole designs linked to the Kakadu National Park region, and clan designs owned by groups such as the Ganalbingu and Dhalwangu. Recurrent symbols depict species like the goanna, kangaroo, barramundi and stingray and are used in ceremonial regalia and for legal identification of country, often referenced in land claims adjudicated before bodies like the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales and in native title determinations under the Native Title Act 1993.
Distinct regional vocabularies developed: Kunwinjku artists from West Arnhem favoured bold rarrk and complex figurative scenes exemplified by practitioners associated with the Maningrida Arts and Culture centre, while Yolŋu painters from north-east Arnhem used minutely cross-hatched designs common to families such as the Marika and Yunupingu lineages who have had works acquired by the National Museum of Australia. Tiwi artists introduced stylised, portrait-like figures in pukamani and funeral poles with contributors represented by artists affiliated with the Tiwi Design Aboriginal Corporation. Notable figures include elders and artists connected to movements and institutions like Mick Kubarkku, Johnny Bulunbulun, Namatjira family members and contemporary practitioners represented through galleries such as Alcaston Gallery and the Gagosian Gallery.
From early ethnographic collections and missionary-era exchanges, bark painting entered commercial markets in the mid-20th century via dealers and exhibitions organized by collectors like Ronald Berndt and curators at the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board. The 1970s and 1980s saw institutional recognition through shows at the Australian National University and international displays coordinated by curators from the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Contemporary practice encompasses both traditional ceremonial production and experimental works that dialogue with contemporary art movements represented in biennales such as the Sydney Biennale and the Biennale of Sydney, while artists engage with residency programs at places like the Museum of Contemporary Art and collaborate with designers and fashion houses.
Major museum collections include the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Australian National Gallery and regional collections in institutions such as the Art Gallery of South Australia. Landmark exhibitions have been organized by curators at the National Gallery of Victoria, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the National Museum of Australia, and commercial representation has been mediated by dealers and auction houses including Sotheby's, Christie's and regional galleries. The market raises issues around provenance and repatriation claims to works held in European collections acquired during expeditions and private collecting by figures like William Ramsay and institutions such as the South Australian Museum.
Conservation of organic supports is led by specialists in institutions including the National Library of Australia and the Australian Institute for Conservation of Cultural Material. Ethical considerations involve consultation with custodial communities, land councils such as the Central Land Council, cultural heritage officers, and legal frameworks including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984. Repatriation, intellectual property, and permission to display or reproduce designs mandate engagement with custodians, community-controlled art centres like Bula'Bula Arts and protocols established by bodies such as the Aboriginal Art Association of Australia.