Educator Professional Development Workshop | Let’s Not Make Aboriginal Art

“Let’s NOT make Aboriginal art! When asked if I could come in and teach students how to make Aboriginal art, my answer – straight up – is: No!

When the awkward silence runs its course, I’m sometimes forced to ask:

“Would you like to know why?“

My Bardi mob don’t make pretty dots, we’re a saltwater peoples so desert animal tracks aren’t really appropriate and those symbols you get as ‘education packages’ via Google, have nothing to do with how my mob share our stories!

In fact, those packs have very little to do with how most Aboriginal and Islander people share their stories today and perhaps, we should be talking about why!

Rather than reinforce in our young people an out of date and ill-informed notion of what others believed Aboriginal art to be then, let’s discuss what it actually is now and why it’s relevant to who we are, in our Australian landscape and society.”
Ron Bradfield Jnr

You’ll come away with:
Ideas for introducing Aboriginal Art to students
An understanding of the relationship between identity and mark-making
Insight into contemporary Aboriginal Art practice