Walbiri graphic art and sand drawing : a study in the iconography of a central Australian culture

Abstract

This study is based upon field work carried out amongst the Walbiri at Yuendumu Government Station in the Northern Territory from November 1956 to March 1957, and from June 1957 to January 1958; a brief period, August to September, 1956 was also spent amongst other Central Australian aborigines at the Bungalow near Alice Springs. This field work was made possible by a Fulbright grant which I held from 1955-1958, and was carried out under the auspices of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology of the Australian National University. Grateful acknowledgement is also made to the American Association of University Women for a grant to complete the writing of this thesis. The present study is a preliminary analysis of a few central problems in Walbiri graphic art. It is conceived as a 'trial analysis," a tentative exploration of an intricate and richly elaborated iconography. Central questions which are raised in this work are the interrelated ones of the internal structure of the graphic system, and the manner in which Walbiri graphs function as repositories of narrative 'story’ meaning. The problem of developing a technical terminology to cope with these problems has been one of the major difficulties besetting the analysis. The handful of terms which I have adopted, and which are explained in Chapter II, are not all equally satisfactory. The reader is asked to look upon them as first approximations. Illustrations of Walbiri graphs accompanying the text are derived from three kinds of data? 1. Sand drawings : various kinds of explanatory graphs drawn by Walbiri in the sand during storytelling and general conversation, or to demonstrate certain graphs associated with ancestors. Illustrations of these drawings are taken from my notebook copies made at the time. The sand stories told by women (see below, pp. 30 ff.) were recorded in the following manners initially, I concentrated upon learning the repertory of sand signs and their meanings; when I was familiar with the graphs, I concentrated upon recording the narratives, making notes only of those sand graphs which were especially interesting or novel. Most of the stories were recounted to me in or near the Walbiri camps— particularly the women’s camps--while women were sitting around in casual groups and indulging in their ordinary pursuits. There were few days at Yuendumu when I did not listen to at least one of these stories, although I sometimes recorded only a detail of a sand drawing, or the basic incidents of a plot. About fifteen women were my best informants for these stories, but I listened to the storytelling of many others. 2. Paper drawings. I supplied Walbiri with various sized papers, with pencil crayons, and (in the initial stages of my work) with charcoal and chalks. The pencil crayons worked out most satisfactorily% they particularly pleased Walbiri men, who liked working with sharp points and a range of colors. The majority of the drawings by Walbiri adults are the work of the men. Women on the whole did not respond well to the pencil and paper medium. Although there were about fifteen to twenty men who were my most regular informants, the work of many others is represented. Much of the drawing was done in or near the men’s camps or further out in the bush well away from the women. Often there were a few men working at the same time. I usually carried drawing materials with me each day, so that if the opportunity arose to obtain drawings, the materials were always at hand. When I did not have extra paper with me, Walbiri often drew in my notebooks. 3. Graphs painted during ritual, or observed on sacred boards and stones. Illustrations derived from these sources are from my photographs or sketches. Show more