In most instances of Aboriginal culture, the body is painted for ritual reasons but in some places, such as among the Walpiri living north-west of Alice Springs, women also paint each others' bodies with quite different designs for sexual reasons, to celebrate their femininity and appeal to men.
Traditionally, the highly creative application of body paint has been used as a way for Aboriginal people to show important aspects of their lives, such as social status, familial group, tribe, ancestry, spirituality and geography.
Ochre is the traditional medium used by Aboriginals dating back 60,000 years. Today there are some rock paintings still quite recognisable from at least 40 to 50,000 years ago so the ochre has incredible longevity.
Awelye, the traditional word used in Utopia to name women's ceremonial body paint, and the ritual dancing demonstrates respect for the land. In performing these ceremonies the dancers ensure well-being and happiness within their communities.
History of Aboriginal Art
Although Australian Aboriginals have been using ochres as body paint, on bark and rocks for tens of thousands of years it was not until the 1930's that the first paintings were done.
Body painting, like piercings and tattoos, is a form of body modification art. Its purpose is to express oneself, to adorn oneself, or to be a part of a larger piece of art.
Widespread use of body painting emerged during 1960s when western artists strived to find new way to express themselves in a form that will be sensational and shocking. Their moment came with the forming of the hippie movement in United States, which accepted sexuality, psychodelia and nudity as their way of life.
White represents the sky and stars, which are filled with the Aborigines ancestors who returned to the sky after creating the earth.
Only an Aboriginal artist can produce Aboriginal art
It seems obvious, but Aboriginal art is only considered Aboriginal if painted by someone who is of that origin.
To create the paint, traditionally red and yellow ochre, white stone, charcoal or clay are used. Each colour holds a different meaning, for example in Arnhem land white connect the peoples to their ancestors (Soriano, 2009).
The three colours of the Aboriginal Flag are bright red, yellow and black. Black represents the Aboriginal people of Australia. Yellow is the life giving sun and red is the colour of the earth. Our flag unifies all of the Aboriginal nations of Australia.
The top half is black and represents Aboriginal people from all over Australia. The bottom half is red and represents the land Our Mother Earth. The yellow circle in the middle of both colours represents the sun - the constant giver of life.
Aboriginal Art Colours and Symbols
White is the spirit colour; Black is the colour of night and represents Aboriginal people; Red is the colour of the land or of blood; Yellow is the colour of the sun and sacred.
To meet the government's current criteria for identifying as Indigenous, a person must be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, identify as Indigenous and be accepted as Indigenous by the community in which they live.
The three criteria are: being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent identifying as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person being accepted as such by the community in which you live, or formerly lived.
Assimilationist terms such as 'full-blood,' 'half-caste' and 'quarter-caste' are extremely offensive and should never be used when referring to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The original Australians were dark-skinned, but a large proportion of the country's Aborigines today are of mixed blood, and many appear to be white.
The dots might suggest an energy field or powerful aura around the design. In more recent times, the distinctive dot painting style of Aboriginal artists emerged in the early 1970s from Papunya Tula artists. Dot painting styles are often seen in art works from the Central and Western Desert regions in Australia.
Armed white settlers or stock-keepers, often on horseback, would conduct massacres as a form of ambush on Aboriginal camps in the night or early morning.
Body painting, or sometimes bodypainting, is a form of body art. Body art is art made on, with, or consisting of, the human body: body painting, tattoos, body art performances, body piercings, scarification, branding, scalpelling, full body tattoo.
Early corpse paint was meant simply to highlight an individual's features and make them look "dead." Bands of the early Norwegian black metal scene used corpse paint extensively. Early vocalist of Mayhem Per "Dead" Ohlin started wearing it in the late 1980s.
Tribes in America, Africa, China and many other countries including India have been practicing body painting since ancient times. India has had a long associated history with this form of art. It is deeply embedded in our culture as this was common during festivals and other traditional activities.
Although a typically safe endeavor, a full coat of body paint can be bad for your health if you're not careful. You can develop heatstroke from full-body paint, since the paint covers your pores and prevents the sweating and cooling mechanisms in your body from working correctly.
The existence of identifiable body decorations on some Neanderthal humans from as early as 75,000 b.c.e. provides intriguing evidence of the first human use of adornment or decoration, and thus the first incidence of fashion.
The four colors (black, white, yellow, and red) embody concepts such as the Four Directions, four seasons, and sacred path of both the sun and human beings. Arrangement of colors vary among the different customs of the Tribes.