Aboriginal Art

A few years ago I had the chance to go to the “top end” (very far north) of Australia to visit some very remote aboriginal homelands with Mission Aviation Fellowship. MAF, an organisation that I worked with until 2022, flies light aircraft to support the local Yolngu people as they work towards a better life for their communities.

This video captures my experience of arriving in Arnhem Land, a part of Australia that feels a million miles from the cultural and artistic life of Melbourne or Sydney, and then flying into remote areas where the beaches have amazing white sand and aqua water—that you can’t swim in because of the ever-present “crocs”! While there I discovered an art centre that highlights and promotes aboriginal art by local Yolngu artists. There is much I don’t understand about the traditions, history and protocols of aboriginal life and the cultural expressions of the Yolngu people, but the art I experienced appeared to me both modern and abstract with their complex colours and patterns.