The Influence of Australian Women in Arts and Crafts

In culture there are very gender specific roles that Australian women and men play.

In order to understand a culture, the art and crafts created within the culture will be significant.

In Australia, the Aborigines are the oldest society. Their society was used as a building block for life on the Australian continent and is even today very influential in parts of Australia.

For a culture to be understood the gender roles must be examined, along with the applications of their work, and the recognition of a role.

The roles of women in their culture will be explained using their roles in their work.

Traditional aboriginal society is a close knit and interdependent unit. Each individual in the society has a specific role to fill.

For women these roles are knowledge of ceremony, art, paintings, and more.

The women in a traditional Australian society are to gather food, collect seeds, vegetables, fruit, small insects, and larvae.

The women are also going to play a role in child rearing, performance, and arts and crafts.

The traditional art of Australian Aborigines are stories. Each painting created has a story to tell, which is associated with food gathering.

Other artistic pieces will be in evidence regarding the roles as healers that women have.

The Warlpiri women from Yuendumu are traditional healers in their tribe. They must perform artistic ceremonies such as songs and paintings that are to help the sick person become healthy again.

The paintings tell of stories in which herbs and other medicines have been used to heal. These plants are considered a central role in the paintings for learning as well as honouring the needed items.

Other artistic applications to their work are the ceremonies and art generated around ‘women’s business.’ This type of art and craft shows fertility subjects.

The items are used to help promote fertility among women and show the need for such fertility. Central Art has a large collection of awelye or women’s ceremonial art to show the distinct application of their art to their culture.

womens australian aboriginal coolamon bowl The art and crafts a woman creates is based on their need to recognise their role in their society as well as teach younger generations the roles in their culture.

The items produced by Australian women are paintings, sculpture, and everyday pieces. These pieces have two purposes in the culture, one of usability and the other for recording and teaching such as the toys below.

Women perform in healing and fertility ceremonies in Australia. These ceremonies are two-fold like their other arts and crafts.

The ceremonies are used to teach and learn from as well as making them a part of their culture in the specific gender roles.

Culture and society will vary from one continent to the other. It is the traditional teachings in art and crafts that allow others to understand the roles these early cultures had in creating what we have today.

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