Humankind’s love for art dates back to 100,000 years ago in the Middle Palaeolithic age. Colouring the skin with ochre, using beads, and the earliest European cave paintings indicate a human obsession with aesthetics. This article talks about one such art form: aboriginal art made with dots.
Aboriginal dot art emerged in the 1970s and is a great medium to revitalise the culture and discover stories. Australian aboriginal artists widely use this technique.
What Are Dot Paintings?
As the name suggests, dot art consists of paintings made solely with dots. The artists use a brush covered in paint, dotting sticks, or other tools to imprint dots on the canvas. The idea is to create art where the dots are recognisable. The size of the dots varies vastly. A dot painting may contain tiny pieces arranged finely on the canvas or large multicoloured dots. Some artists join the dots to make lines or create large areas of tiny dots to give it a more stippled look.
The article will dive into aboriginal art now that you know what dot paintings are.
Aboriginal Dot Paintings
Originally, Aboriginal art was produced using materials that are found naturally, such as clay, charcoal, and ochre. Aboriginal dot art today is mostly done using acrylic paints. However, other paintings made with dots can also be found. Some of the best dot works are done with acrylic paints of high viscosity so that when the painting dries up, it gives the appearance of embossed curved shapes on the canvas.
Aboriginal art is used to tell a story such as depict scenes from the daily lives of the artists and their land. This art form shows how strongly the indigenous people were connected to their land.
The Origin Story
Dot painting has been integral to Indigenous Australian culture for thousands of years. It can be seen in ancient artefacts, rock walls, caves, and the body paintings of Indigenous people. Many theories try to uncover the origin of dot paintings. Also, there is a significant chance that all of these different stories have a role to play in the origin of the Aboriginal dot paintings that we see today.
The men were the storytellers of the Aboriginal tribes. The people of the tribes were worried that their sacred information would get passed on to people from the outside. Since acrylic paints are permanent, it gave rise to the issue of the revelation of secret information. Hence, overdotting came into play. Today, a common westerner cannot understand the hidden meanings behind a painting made with dots. Hence artists have given up the practice of overdotting.
Dot paintings came into the limelight in the 1970s through the works of Papunya Tula artists.
Dot Paintings in the Modern World
The modern process of dot painting production dates only 40 years back, but the culture and tradition date back thousands of years. The modern adaptations have diversified with postcolonial expression and reclamation of culture, ensuring that this art form stays alive. Indigenous Australian artists have discovered new ways to paint with dots and also have adapted different techniques. Dense colour with a dabbing effect can be noticed in many dot paintings today. Dot paintings give Aboriginal groups such as the power to represent themselves how they want to be represented. The revolution of the dot-art has changed the way Aboriginal tribes are viewed. It is their way of telling a story only they fully know and understand.
