| The idea of art in traditional Aboriginal communities differs greatly to the understanding of art in European communities. Body decorating, dancing, constructing baskets and tools, sand drawing and singing were not classified as art. Such works were part of the Dreaming and part of the usual, everyday life. Due to this idea, the idea of 'an artist' did not exist because everyone was considered an artist. However, this idea is being altered as the traditional Aboriginal societies adjust | to parts of the western lifestyle. The quantity of 'artists' in an Aboriginal community would be immense compared to the quantity of artists in non - Aboriginal societies.
As a tradition, Aboriginal people only used the materials that are able to be used by them in order to represent the Dreaming and their world. Therefore, the media of art differed according to the various regions in Australia. There was and still is a broad variety of traditional Aboriginal art media. |
