Art of Uluru
- Kata Tjuta National Park
Anangu art has traditionally taken
the form of rock paintings, sand drawings and body
painting. Anangu paintings are created for two complimentary
- religious and ceremonial expression; and
- teaching and storytelling.
Traditional methods and designs
are passed on from one generation to the next. Today
Anangu still create sand drawings and body paintings
for these purposes but do not use rock paintings
Now they also have available a wide
range of new materials to use including acrylic paints
and canvases and have acquired new skills such as
painting on ceramics and punu, wood carving and decorating.
Although the mediums may have changed
Anangu artists use the same symbols and meanings
that have been used over many generations. This enables
Anangu to continue passing on knowledge through storytelling
as well as providing the community with a source
of income. Paintings and crafts in this style are
on display in the visitor centres and for sale at
Uluru - Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre.
Where to See Rock Paintings
Several rock shelters along the Mala and Mutitjulu Walks provide visitors with
the opportunity to observe evidence of this ancient tradition. The paintings
are of considerable historical significance to Anangu who continue to ensure
their preservation and protection.
Protection of Rock Paintings
Rock paintings around Uluru are easily damaged because they are not held together
with any binding agents. Natural elements like water, salt, and lichen growth
make them fade or flake off. Dust has an abrasive effect on the paintings and
also covers them up. Mud nests built by swallows and wasps can also damage
the art. Paintings also deteriorate where careless people touch the artwork
or paint or scratch graffiti on the sites.
Anangu and Park Managers have established
methods for protecting art. They have erected viewing
platforms and interpretive signs at many of the popular
sites. These allow people to view the art closely
but prevent them touching the paintings, and also
reduce the amount of dust stirred up. Silicon drip
lines are located where paintings are vulnerable
to water flowing over the surface. The drip lines
change the surface tension, diverting the path of
the water away from the paintings.
The art sites have also been comprehensively
documented by specialists, with maps, photographs
and cultural information provided by Anangu.
Help us to protect the World Heritage
art of Uluru by remaining behind the barriers, and
inform any Park Staff immediately if you see any
persons damaging or interfering with the art work.
The same symbols and paints used in rock art are also used in body painting.
People are painted with ochres to represent the Tjukurpa ancestors and events
they are depicting during inma (dance and ceremonies). Some of the public inma
can be seen in the video displays at the Cultural Centre.
Traditional Painting Materials
Anangu make paints from natural mineral substances mixed with water and sometimes
with animal fat. They most commonly use red, yellow, orange, white, grey and
black pigments. Red, yellow and orange pigments are iron stained clays called
ochres. Calcite, a chalky mineral, and also ash are used to make white pigments.
Calcite occurs naturally in calcrete deposits common in this area. For the
black pigment charcoal is used. As these materials are used in religious ceremonies
Anangu handle them with great respect
The Symbols and Meanings
The symbols and figures on the shelter walls at Uluru are similar to those found
in many sites throughout Central Australia. Anangu still use these symbols
in their paintings and carvings. These include geometric symbols such as concentric
circles, figures representing animal tracks and the outlines of animals.
Anangu still draw symbols in the
sand to teach and tell stories
These symbols can represent different meanings, however these become clear when
the artists explain the story they are depicting. The true meanings of the Uluru
rock paintings rest with the artists and those they were teaching. Some senior
Anangu in the Park know the meaning of the cave symbols because they either painted
them themselves or recalled having them explained by the artists.
In some paintings the concentric
circles symbol may mean a waterhole, or a camping
place. In others, the same symbol may indicate a
honey ant nest or a native fig tree. Concentric circles
symbols usually represent a significant ancestral
site or can be an intricate part of the story being
told by the artist.
Anangu first began transferring sand paintings onto canvas during the 1970's.
The popularity and demand for western desert paintings has been increasing
ever since with the paintings being sold locally, nationally and internationally.
Contemporary media and Aboriginal art enterprises now enable broad distribution
of paintings and crafts depicting traditional designs.
Park Entry Ticket Design - Tjukurpa
Please keep your park entry ticket. The painting, by Malya Teamay, that is on
the ticket depicts the important stories of Uluru. Uluru is represented in the
centre of the painting by concentric circles. The different shades of colour
surrounding Uluru show the different land and vegetation (which is all Tjukurpa),
crossed by these ancestral beings on their journeys to Uluru.
The ancestral beings (Tjukuritja)
represented in this painting are:
Kuniya, the Python Woman with her
eggs (top-right of painting);
Liru, the venomous snake (top-left of painting);
Kurpany, the doglike creature represented by the pawprints (bottom-left); and
Mala the rufous hare wallaby represented by the wallaby tracks (bottom right).
The footprints and spears represent the warriors of the Warmala revenge party
who travelled from West of Uluru looking for Kuniya.
This painting also appears on the
cover of the Uluru -Kata Tjuta National Park Plan
of Management (2000). Anangu ask that you respect
the Tjukurpa by keeping your park entry ticket, not
discarding it or giving it away.