Australian unique bark paintings displayed in Shanghai
A visitor looks at a bark painting displayed at the Shanghai Natural History Museum in Shanghai on November 15, 2018.
A collection of bark paintings by Aboriginal people from Australian went on show Thursday at the Shanghai Natural History Museum.
Bark paintings are considered national treasures of Australia and remain largely unknown to the rest of the world.The National Museum of Australia, keeper of the world’s largest collection of bark paintings, has brought 110 typical examples to China.
“Old Masters: Australia’s Great Bark Artists,” will occupy the temporary exhibition hall at the museum till January.
The works on show include two engravings, and were all created between 1948 and 1985 by people living in Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory.
A bark painting is exhibited at the Shanghai Natural History Museum in Shanghai on November 15, 2018.
Ancient Chinese people passed on their civilization and culture through oracle bone scripts. Aboriginal Australians, who has lived in Australia for more than 65,000 years, turned to bark painting.
They stripped bark from trees as canvas and extracted ochres and clays from the earth as pigment. They painted the animals living around them such as crocodiles and kangaroos. They chronicled their everyday lives from hunting to important rituals, and their myths and beliefs.
Many of the exhibited works contain elements of the rainbow serpent, a spiritual and cultural symbol of aboriginal Australian, occupying a similar roles to the dragon in Chinese culture. The rainbow serpent has crocodile’s head, fish’s tail and a water lily-covered back.
A man takes a picutre of a bark painting displayed at the Shanghai Natural History Museum in Shanghai on November 15, 2018.
“The Aboriginal people who made these works made them to communicate who they are to the young people in their own communities, to the wider Australian community and then the world,” said Mathew Trinca, director of the National Museum of Australia.
“The collection speaks from the heart of Australia and it is the best way to open up their souls. In all places, real DNA relies on the people who live here.”
Beyond the obvious cultural exchange, Trinca thinks the exhibition is a useful lesson to the world.
“This collection speaks about the responsibility to our environment. And that’s what we, non-Aboriginal Australians, are learning from Aboriginal Australians. And also, they can teach the rest of the world,” he said.
He reveals that in coming years the two museums will work together on staff exchanges and other projects.
The collection arrived in Beijing in July, the first time Australian bark paintings have been exhibited overseas. Shanghai is the second stop on the Chinese tour. Next, it will be exhibited in Chengdu and Shenzhen.
A woman admires a bark painting displayed at the Shanghai Natural History Museum in Shanghai on November 15, 2018.
