Salt of the Earth: Indigenous art from the land

An exhibition of ochre paintings from the Kimberley & Tiwi Islands, barks, sculptures & weavings from Arnhem Land, & more… Exhibiting artists include: Queenie McKenzie, Claude Carter, Alan Griffiths, Malaluba Gumana, Lloyd Kwilla, Naminapu Maymuru-White, Nina Puruntatameri, Lilly Roy, Billy Thomas, Freddie Timms, Susan Wanji Wanji, Ralwurrandji Wanambi, Nawurapu Wunungmurra, and others.

In conversation and opening: Sunday May 27, 2.30 pm.

Curators floor talk: Sunday June 10, 3 pm.
McCulloch & McCulloch @ Salt Contemporary 33 -35 Hesse St Queenscliff Victoria 3225

Ochre: the first paint. Australia’s longest continuous tradition is the ochre trade. Ochre sites are common throughout Australia, however certain types are more valued than others in mythology. Some are so eagerly sought that armed parties of 70-80 warriors were sent in to barter from the ochre mines. Usually these highly valued ochres have a silvery sheen caused by mixture of another element – free mercury or tiny fragments of mica. Iron fragments in ochre have been found to point to the magnetic north have been used to date frescoes in Italy. There are relating theories about the relationship between ochre and story paths (songlines) in Aboriginal societies. Classification of colour is not only a reflection of nature but according to traditional practice can reflect moieties, as in the Tiwi Islands, where the four moieties all given a colour – red, black, white, yellow.