ROME CELEBRATES ABORIGINAL ART
ROME CELEBRATES ABORIGINAL ART
(ANSA) - Rome, February 4 - The largest exhibition of Aboriginal art ever held in Italy has opened in Rome, showcasing works by some of Australia's most prominent contemporary artists.
Around 220 paintings and wood sculptures by 127 artists are on display at Palazzo Incontro for the Australia Today show, exploring the cultural roots of the continent's nomadic Aborigines.
Artists whose paintings regularly fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction including Rover Thomas, Clifford Possum, Judy Watson Napangardi and Nancy Nungurrayi are among those whose work is on display.
Many of the artists showcased still live in small isolated tribes and use rudimentary tools such as twigs, chewed stick ends and locks of hair to paint or draw lines.
Natural pigments such as clay, carbon and the juices of herbs and wild berries serve as paint.
''This is the first major exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal art and it offers a unique opportunity to get closer to a culture that has survived despite everything,'' said Lazio Regional Culture Councillor Cecilia D'Elia.
Luca Faccenda, the artistic director of the National Gallery of Florence who curated the show together with Marco Parri, said he first had the idea for the exhibit three years ago after he spent time with some Aboriginal tribes.
''We were received by the head of the Djabugai tribe and spent four months living with them, eating larvae and drinking water dug from the ground, after crossing the Gibson Desert and learning to cope with thirst,'' Faccenda said.
The majority of the works on display are on loan directly from the artists or family heirs who Faccenda met during his time in Australia, while the rest come from private or public collections.
Many of the paintings portray stories from the Dreaming, the Aboriginal version of Creation, as well as dotted motifs and symbol patterning representing 'aerial' views of desert landscapes.
Among the highlights giving insight into the Aboriginal spirit world are Djambu Barra Barra's fearsome Devil Devil, an anvil-headed, blue-clawed monster, and Linda Syddick Napaltjarri's alien-like water and vegetation spirits.
Animals are also a recurring theme in the show, as in Rover Thomas's skittle-shaped silhouettes of kangaroos, Alice Nampitjinpa's fuzzy purple echidnas and Amy Johnson's creature-filled My Country series, crowded with ducks, lizards, snakes, insects and turtles.
In addition to the paintings on show are large standing sculpted wood totems, representing spirits with wild hair and bared teeth, as well as fat cigar-shaped totems of a desert lizard and barramundi fish.
A didgeridoo and patterned boomerangs - both the non-returning kind used as a hunting weapon and the famous returning toy version - are also on display.
Australia Today runs at Palazzo Incontro in Rome until March 7. Photo: Mina Mina Desert by Judy Watson Napangardi
