An instrument as old as time. Nowadays unjustly corrupted by souvenir shops and shopping centres. Yes indeed, I speak of the didgeridoo.
It is not the synonym of the entire continent of Australia at all, only a part, or more specifically, the northern region of Kakadu. The didgeridoo still brings to mind a rather boggy terrain, because some Aboriginal Australians consider improper use
For decades, Aboriginal art was pushed into a drawer labelled ‘primitive art’, treated as part of the realm of ethnography or the souvenir industry. Nowadays, works by Pintupi painters from Papunya are considered the most important achievements of contemporary art in Australia. While it fits into the context of aesthetic trends and artistic controversies, Aboriginal art remains an important political voice, also in specific disputes over rights to the land.
Papunya Tula is a sandy settlement in the middle of the desert, located more or less in the heart of Australia. Its name in the Pintupi language means ‘the place where honey ants meet’. At the beginning of 1971, a new teacher, Geoffrey Bardon, arrived there. His pupils barely spoke any English, so he was assigned an interpreter, the Aboriginal man Obed Raggett.
