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Brilliant blue: The blue rock art of Awunbarna, Northern Territory, Australia

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dc.contributor.authorMay, S.K.
dc.contributor.authorBrady, L.M.
dc.contributor.authorTaçon, P.S.C.
dc.contributor.authorMiller, E.
dc.contributor.authorJalandoni, A.
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, L.
dc.contributor.authorMungulda, C.
dc.contributor.authorGoldhahn, J.
dc.date.issued2024
dc.descriptionPublished online: 03 Oct 2024
dc.description.abstractWithin the extensively painted rockshelters of Awunbarna (Mt Borradaile) in western Arnhem Land, appears a cluster of paintings that are conspicuous amongst the traditional white, red, yellow, and black figures. Brilliant blue pigment has, for generations, captured the imagination of local Aboriginal community members and visitors, including rock art researchers. This rock art was created using laundry whiteners (such as Reckitt’s Blue) during a period of intense change in the region brought about by European arrival. This paper explores the largest documented cluster of laundry blue rock paintings in northern Australia. We investigate the subject matter, distribution, and manner of use at Awunbarna alongside its broader cultural and artistic context. We find that laundry blue rock art emerges as part of a flurry of innovative rock art being created in this region at the turn of the nineteenth–twentieth century and continuing, in rare instances, until the 1960s. We argue that blue paintings and the Painted Hand Figures represent two relatively short-lived, innovative experimental phases within an art-making tradition with Awunbarna as the epicentre for this rock art movement. Likewise, we suggest a very small number of artists may be responsible for the blue rock art of Awunbarna indicating its use may have been restricted to artists of a certain status.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilitySally K. May, Liam M. Brady, Paul S.C Taçon, Emily Miller, Andrea Jalandoni, Luke Taylor, Charlie Mungulda and Joakim Goldhahn
dc.identifier.citationAustralian Archaeology, 2024; 90(3):263-279
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/03122417.2024.2397899
dc.identifier.issn0312-2417
dc.identifier.issn2470-0363
dc.identifier.orcidMay, S.K. [0000-0003-2805-023X]
dc.identifier.orcidGoldhahn, J. [0000-0003-4640-8784]
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2440/142731
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherTaylor and Francis Group
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR200200062
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT210100118
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT180100038
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL160100123
dc.rights© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
dc.source.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2024.2397899
dc.subjectAboriginal Australia; Arnhem Land; innovation; painters; Painted Hands; Reckitt’s Blue
dc.titleBrilliant blue: The blue rock art of Awunbarna, Northern Territory, Australia
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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