PAPUNYA 1971

Acrylic paintings on board or canvas from Central Australia more than any other art best evoke Aboriginal art since the 1970s. This painting movement originates in the government settlement of Papunya, located 250 km north-east from Alice Springs.

In 1971, with the support of an art teacher, Geoffrey Bardon (1940-2003), several initiated men execute a mural, Honey Ant Dreaming, on the wall of the small school of Papunya, using acrylic paint. This leads to a minor cultural revolution. A group of about thirty men start to paint on everything they can find, from hardboard to floor tiles. Stories represented relate to the creation of the country and the transmission of the Law to the people.