Researching Indigenous Art
Picture books have been found to have great educational value for students of all ages, beyond that of the early years, and are a great way to engage students at the beginning of a learning journey.
The Legend of Moonie Jarl, tells the stories of the Butchulla people, the Indigenous people of Fraser Island and the Fraser Coast, Queensland. Published in 1964, it was the first Aboriginal children’s book to be published and was written and designed by Butchulla siblings Moonie Jarl (Wilf Reeves) and Wandi (Olga Miller), both of whom have since passed away. The Legends of Moonie Jarl gives a deeper understanding and appreciation of Butchulla culture among the broader community, and contributes to community pride locally.
The book is woven with beautifully crafted Australian Indigenous artworks, using a range of traditional patterns and colours and is a great point of discussion and exploration for your inquiry.
“The Arts have a special relationship with learning, in that the Arts can be learned and can be used as a tool by which to learn about something else” – ACARA, 2016
Ngura Walykumuna- It’s a Good Camp
Show painting, Ngura Walykumuna- It’s a Good Camp (see above)
Discuss children’s feelings about the painting
(e.g What do they like? What do they think it is about?).
Explain that most Aboriginal paintings tell a story. The symbols are readily recognizable; the many figures show the abundance of life in the desert, and the waterholes that are meeting places for both people and animals. At sundown the old people sit around the fires and talk, children abound and dogs fight over food. Be sure to only discuss the symbols and their possible meanings at this stage of the lesson.
Working in small groups
Ask students to make a group list of all their observations about the painting – include everything suggested by group members
Note- It’s important at this stage not to worry so much about relevance, but to simply encourage students to view
and explore the painting.
This a printable worksheet called 'Thinking about meaning' which you might like to use with this artwork, or another Aboriginal Artwork of your choice. This could be used a formative assessment to measure your students' learning so far, or simply as a guided activity.
Discuss
A) What is in the painting (e.g. symbols to show people, animals, water, trees …).
B) What story the painting tells.
C) The colours used, and suggest possible reasons they were chosen …
Take class outside to a selected play area, of your choice. (Something simple that could be easily viewed from a birds eye view is idea, e.g. a basketball court or a general play area)
Discuss what happens in this area at break time (that is, the story of their school at lunch)
Discuss what kinds of symbols your students could use to represent these happenings, and this ‘story’.
Return to the classroom and encourage children to create their own symbols to help them tell the story of school at recess, and guide students in painting a playground scene from a birds eye view, using their own original symbols.
Display complete paintings and ask children to describe their stories and chosen symbols, giving reasons for their choices.
Travelling in My Country
Share this video with your students. This is an artwork in the making by Aboriginal Artist Nellie Marks Nakamarra, called “Travelling Through my Country”, painted in Alice Springs, 2011.
Lead a class discussion around the observable artistic features in the video, drawing upon students prior knowledge (e.g. stylised lines and curves, waves, repeated patterns, colours and shapes). Many of the symbols used by Aboriginal artists are a variation of lines or dots. Similar symbols can have multiple meanings according to the art region and the elaborate combination of these can tell complex Dreamtime stories.
“The arts are a rich and integral part of Indigenous culture. Students can learn about Indigenous culture through the arts and they can learn about the arts in Indigenous culture”- NDEC, 2011
Collaborative Research
This link is an incredibly valuable resource for students to access in their research. It has hundred of pages about traditional Indigenous artists, their artworks and their stories as well personal interviews with the artists, interesting historical information and facts and much more.
It would be ideal to provide some time for students in their groups to explore this webpage without restrictions to begin with, before assigning the research task.
As the class administrator, you could simply post this link onto students’ ProBoard forums for easy access.
http://www.japingka.com.au/education/#history
TASK
Students must find…
1) Find one Indigenous Australian artist and select one of their artworks to explore.
2) Read the story of which their artwork tells and retell in your own words.
3) Choose two symbols from the artwork to explore- draw the symbols and explain
what the represented for the artist.
Students are to record and publish their findings on the ProBoard forum.
Invite each group to share their findings, encouraging discussion amongst students about the different artworks and their meanings.
