THE BIG CANVAS - Things to do
There are many things to do and see if you visit the big canvas at the SA Museum, but you might like to try some activities using this web site.
Would you like to try…
Look at the painting.
This painting is used to tell stories.
There are stories about ants, people and kangaroos.
Can you see anything in the painting about ants, people or kangaroos?
Can you draw a dot picture on your computer?
Make a dot picture that tells a story.
The stories in the painting are about real places. Is your dot painting about
a real place?
When people were painting the big canvas, they went to the places to tell the
stories of the places before they painted. Have a look at one of the places.
You might like to paint your own painting
using real paint.
Click here to see how the Warlpiri people did their painting.
They worked together as a team. Who could you work with to do your painting?
The big canvas is very new. How can you
tell?
The museum also has old pictures.
Some museum photos might be of the parents or grand parents of the artists.
What do you think these men are doing in these pictures? Click here .
This is the big canvas on display at the South Australian Museum.
It has been painted by the Warlpiri people of central Australia.
In 1931 an expedition from the SA Museum visited the Warlpiri in central Australia.
They took pictures, sound recordings and other measurements.
What differences can you notice between the 1931 photographs and the modern photos ?
What else might have changed in the past 65 years?
(You might like to compare the old photograph of the Warlpiri people in the desert with an old painting of Ngarrindjeri people of the coast.
The Museum visitors in 1931 did not know very much about the Warlpiri people, but the Warlpiri people did not know much about the people from Adelaide either. If you work with a partner, you could write two versions of the meeting of the museum workers with the Warlpiri people. The two groups would see the same event quite differently. One person could write the Aboriginal side of the meeting, the other write the European side. You might even act out some of the scenes. If you do some research into what things were like for people in the 1930s it might help you make your story more realistic. Send your completed stories to us at the museum. museumed@saschools.edu.au
The "Big Canvas" highlights a few of the changes that have occurred to the Warlpiri people in the years from 1931 until 1998 .
If you were only allowed five sentences to summarise the changes shown by the exhibition, what would you say?
What are the contemporary issues facing Aboriginal people today? There are many sites on the internet that can assist your exploration of this topic. Here is one to get you started.