rock art
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Petroglyphs : Ocher paintings
The western desert is abundant in rock images pecked and ground into rock. Often these rock faces are stragecially near the valuable rock holes and springs that have sustained indigenous families from the creation time.( i.e. a long time) Specifically from my observations these petroglyphs are of a very simple abstract and geometrical design common to rock art internationally
After studying the stone carvings in neolithic Europe as championed in the New Grange / Boyne Valley / Ireland I was able to confirm the Phosphene Motif as a universal visual arts metaphor.
New Grange standing stone, 7000 yrs old with Celtic Petroglyphs Boyne Valley . EIRE 1 of a 100 standing stones surrounding the central 30m dome.
Western edge of the Stuart Range Karrinyarra Outstation
Western desert Ocher paintings
Western desert Ocher paintings
Western Desert Petroglyphs
Western Desert Petroglyphs
Western Desert Petroglyphs
These western desert petroglyphs may be 17 - 22.000 years old and the ocher paintings: 7-10.000 years old
As visual motifs they hold a continuum of creation stories / myth from the 'Jukurrpa' (Dreaming) and represent how a simple motif retains a an archeytpal nourishment for the human inner life
This archetypal conversation gives contemporary arts a vision of connecting our story making capacity, back to a timeless collective and awakening of the 'belonging' we have to each other and our envirement
As a practicing cultural artist, I find this view carries the essential heart of what Karrinyarra Artists offer the International Art World
Within "The First Story' we are presented with a Grandmothers' Story whose lineage of visual motifs is of such antiquity as to be uniquly archetypal and authentic in its capacity to wash our inner life with enduring nourishment
Placing the western petroglyphs and ocher pre contact imagery, as the foundation of the Papunya Tula genesis and the flowering of the expedential synctal patterns of the following 40 years of desert art development, we then have a comprehensive view of where the Karrinyarra Artists stand as fine artists, cultural heritage elders and law custodians of our human Grandmothers' Story "The First Story"
Llwyd : Karrinyarra 2012
