A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Sydney - Australian Museum
The paintings on this page are all modern works speaking to various problems resulting from the interaction between Aboriginal people and European culture. Concepts of life and death were very different in the two belief systems.
As has been the case in other cultures, alcohol has done an enormous amount of damage to the indigenous people and their traditional way of life.
Early European settlers in Australia felt that their culture was far superior to that of the local people. In an effort to help the indigenous people advance it was decided by European humanitarians that Aboriginal children should be separated from their family and given a modern education. Understandably this was not well received by the children's parents. (Navaho parents didn't like it either.)
The problem of racism between white and black is much diminished today, but this artist feels that it is still present and is still an issue to be dealt with throughout the country.
