Martu Paint Country. The archaeology of colour and aesthetics in Western Desert rock art and contemporary acrylic art

Abstract

This thesis documents an archaeological study of the use of colour in the Australian Western Desert, which set out to test the thesis that there is a discernible, uniquely Martu aesthetic in relation to colour. It did this by looking at colour preferences in two Martu art types; the rock art which was created prior to European contact and the acrylic art which has come about by a degree of fusion with Australian European culture. Acrylic colour has been described as only colour; distinct from traditional mediums (such as ochres) which encode context from their source within their material. So when this embedded contextual meaning is stripped away what do the Martu do with pure colour? Or does this description ignore the role that colour plays in art, and in life? Colour is a ubiquitous part of life and material culture; all humans use the same physical mechanisms to see colour but we do not necessarily all perceive it in the same way. Colour is both a static aspect of material culture and a part of an individual’s cultural perceptual landscape; in this sense colour operates as part of our cultural aesthetic not wholly anchored to the immediate material context. Western Desert acrylic art has been considered by many as a product of the Western European art world rather than a new expression of traditional culture. This research in contrast has found that in the Martu acrylic art colour is used to express Country and to obfuscate information in the same way as dotting. In this way the acrylic palette shares meaning with the more traditional palettes and is being used in new ways to deal with a new way of life. My research has shown that colour works as a mnemonic in the same way an icon or a painting (as a complete object) does by recalling natural features through their visual coloured expression. The results show that colour is an important element of the art that contributes to the meaning and function of the art in the same way that form does. Colour has a representative and contextual cultural value in both the rock art and acrylic art and is more than ‘just colour’ regardless of its source: ochre mined direct from Country or acrylic purchased from a shop. While art practice has developed and changed through practice with the new medium this practice is rooted within traditional Martu cultural context and aesthetic. Show more