Abstract
Australian Aboriginal symbols are visual forms of knowledge that express cultural intellect. Being classified by a Western interpretation of “art” devalues thousands of years of generational knowledge systems, where visual information has been respected, appreciated and valued. This article highlights how Aboriginal creativity has little concept of aesthetical value, but is a cultural display of meaning relating to Creational periods, often labelled as The Dreamings. With over 350 different Aboriginal Nations in Australia, this article focuses of the Dharug Nation, located around the northern Sydney area of New South Wales. The Dharug term for the Creational period is Gunyalungalung—traditional ritualized customary lores (laws). These symbols are permanently located within the environment on open rock surfaces, caves and markings on trees. Whilst some symbols are manmade, others are made by Creational ancestral beings and contain deep story lines of information in sacredness. Therefore, creative imagery engraved or painted on rock surfaces are forms of conscious narratives that emphasise deep insight.
Highlights
Australian Aboriginal symbols are visual forms of knowledge that express cultural intellect within a sense of place and spiritual space
With over 350 different Aboriginal Nations in Australia, creative expressions of knowledge are unique to each Aboriginal Nation as designs, symbols, techniques and mediums are bound within customary laws associated to Creational periods
This article highlights how Aboriginal creativity has little concepts of aesthetical value, but is a cultural display of meaning relating to Creational periods, often labelled as The Dreamings, with a focus on the Dharug Nation, located around the northern Sydney area of NSW
Summary
Australian Aboriginal symbols are visual forms of knowledge that express cultural intellect within a sense of place and spiritual space. Creative imagery engraved or painted on rock surfaces are forms of conscious narrative that emphasise deep insight It is this deep insight of interpretation that allows the free flow of external influences within the environment to transcend into the internal spiritual worlds. In validating Dharug Aboriginal visual knowledge, recent research suggests that symbols of cultural content have the ability to connect the external and internal worlds through the unconscious mind (Dow, 1986) as unique visual literacies that Dow terms “semiotic” manipulations. Whilst there is considerable research explaining how symbols are visual literacies and hold semantically deep meaning and perspective, there is little acknowledgement as to how Aboriginal symbols achieve a psychological response and transference from the external image to the internal body. (Ermine, 1995, p. 104)
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