When looking at a map it is easy to see the areas where language has survived the longest, however a vast amount has disappeared particularly near the coastal regions. The Kaurna people however have been successful in reviving and recovering their language and ceremonies. However in the remote areas of northern Australia, Aboriginal practice and culture has been kept alive continuously throughout the process of colonisation.
The heartland of the beginnings of abstract and modernist Australian art came from the central and northern Australian desert regions. Below are examples of works of art from these regions.
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| Rover Thomas - Warnum WA |
This work from the desert features natural pigments, blocks of colour with shapes outlined in white using white dots. This piece uses a restricted colour palette.
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| Maningrida - Western Arnhem Land |
This work features a technique called cross hatching also known as Rark and natural pigments on bark with a restricted colour palette.
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| Johnny Yungut - Tjupurrula |
This artwork was painted in the Western Desert using Acrylic on canvas in a wide palette of colours and a combination of dots and circles.
"Dots are the camouflage across the canvas for whats not meant to be seen by the uninitiated people."
According to Australian Art History, Aboriginal Art of the western desert movement began in a community called Papunya west of Alice Springs when a group of elders painted on the walls of a school. School teacher Geoffrey Bardon encouraged these men to transfer the designs which they drew into the sand and on their bodies onto the wall using acrylic paints. This was ground breaking as it was a tradition carried out using contemporary tools on contemporary surfaces such as walls and boards then later onto canvas. This movement over took everything that was happening in Australian Art and became the biggest selling genre in the Art history of Australia and globally. In the year 2000 it sold three times more than any other genre being produced.
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