MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA EXPLORING MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA THROUGH THE ARTWORKS OF AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS ARTIST LIN ONUS

ARTWORKS "I kind of hope that history may see me as some sort of bridge between cultures, between technology and ideas." Lin Onus, artist statement, 1990

ARTWORKS Prospects Rising

Barmah Forest Michael and I are just slipping down to the pub for a minute

ABOUT LIN ONUS Lin Onus was an artist with deeply held socio-political views. Artworks possessed humour and a technical expertise in his art Son of an Aboriginal father and a Scottish mother and grew up in Melbourne. Proficent in a western realist style of painting that was far removed from traditional aboriginal art. He began tostudy traditional art andhe was able to meld the two styles in a way that is uniquely his own, and which helped establish an urban aboriginal art movement. Particularly important in his development was his visits to Garmedi (Arnhem Land) starting in Lin's father had been of the Yorta Yorta people from the Barmah Forest country, and Lin also used images from this area in his paintings. Some of Onus' early works directly convey the anger he felt at social injustice towards Aboriginal and other groups he saw as oppressed.

INVESTIGATION Through an investigation of Lin Onus’s artistic practice the dominant view of culture is challenged and questioned. Students research the significance of landscape paintings by western and Aboriginal artists and consider how, over time, artworks have represented different cultural beliefs and values about the land and its people. The purpose of the study is for students to develop an understanding of the context and art history referenced by Onus in his artistic practice.

THEMES IN ONUS’ ARTWORKS EXPLORING MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA: Issues of: identity, ownership, dispossession and social justice are investigated and inform art making activities. When developing an arts-based Unit of Work: Using a series of paintings by the Aboriginal artist Lin Onus that include a series of rich tasks, provides excellent opportunities to engage students in substantive discussion and explore issues of difference across time and space. It helps prepare students for a global, multicultural world so they recognize and respect difference, develop social consciousness and demonstrate diverse ways of thinking that fosters tolerance and appropriate citizenship.

DEVELOPING AN ARTS-BASED UOW: Using a series of paintings by the Aboriginal artist Lin Onus can provide the basis for a series of rich learning and teaching activities. The series of tasks provide students the opportunity to explore various themes about Australian identity and our history. Students discuss and engage in issues of identity, ownership, dispossession and social justice which can be investigated and informed by art making activities.

POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES FOR THIS UNIT › Exploring teaching and learning activities through Lin Onus’ art works: Students ‘play detective’ using the investigative strategies discovered above to decode and trace the origins of the ideas represented in the artwork And on the Eighth Day by Lin Onus. Students identify and list the images and symbols Lin Onus has appropriated and recontextualised in the work (eg bible, sky, angel, gun, wire, light shaft, concentric circles, land, lamb, colours)

FURTHER ACTIVITIES Students speculate about and note the possible meanings of these images in terms of western cultural history Students speculate about and note the possible meanings of these images in terms of Aboriginal cultural history Students identify images that are situated in novel and contradictory combinations. Which images are not normally associated with others? Does the meaning of images change when placed in the new context of Lin Onus’s work? Students identify the way different audiences will encode a sign or symbol with meaning contingent upon a culturally contextualised reading of that symbol or sign.

The concepts of marginalisation, racism, social injustice, inequality, dispossession, and alienation addressed in And on the Eighth Day are revisited and explained in terms of evidence in the archive. A review of examples of other works by Lin Onus could also assist in the clarification of issues and ideas worthy of investigation for artmaking.

FOCUS FOR UNIT OF WORK- IDENTITY KLA Links: PDHPE- families and belonging, relationships, your own identity, Mathematics- Perspective English- written reflections, narrative on identity, analysis of various texts about identity, speaking tasks of identity Creative Arts- Drama; role play, Music; creating music based on your own identity, Dance; looking at different dances from various cultures, Visual arts; creating own art work on their personal identity and their culture. HSIE- exploring own culture, and history, exploring different cultures.

IDENTITY ACTIVITIES Students research the history of Lin Onus’s practice. They: read the information on Lin Onus in Gallery and Artists and highlight key words in the text refer to newspaper and journal articles, including tributes written about the artist after his death in 1996, that provide concise and accessible accounts of his history and achievements. The following questions guide the collection of information using the subjective frame to focus on how the artist’s own history is represented in his works.

IDENTITY ACTIVITIES What is Lin Onus’s Aboriginal cultural heritage? Explain the artist’s different relationships with Aboriginal people and communities in his life in the city and Maningrida. How was the artist reunited with his Aboriginal heritage? Was he a political activist? What was his contribution to ensuring the integrity of Aboriginal cultural interests in the artworld? List artworks by the artist that make reference to his Aboriginal education and traditions. What is Lin Onus’s western cultural heritage? Where was Lin Onus raised and educated? How has this upbringing, his family history and education influenced his artistic practice? How did his initial training as a mechanic influence the development of his ideas for artworks? How did he begin painting? Suggest reasons he adopted a photorealist or trompe l’oeil style of painting. Why has the artist used humorous and trivial modern objects from middle-class Australia to represent ideas?

PROFESSIONAL TEACHING STANDARDS How does the case study relate to the Professional Teaching Standards and the QTF? Write here Teachers know their subject/content and how to teach that content to their students: Write here Teachers know their students and how students learn : Write here Teachers plan, assess and report for effective learning: Write here

PROFESSIONAL TEACHING STANDARDS Teachers communicate effectively with their students: Write here Teachers create and maintain safe and challenging learning environments through the use of classroom management skills: Write here Teachers continually improve their professional knowledge and practice Write here Teachers are actively engaged members of their profession and the wider community. Write here

QUALITY TEACHING FRAMEWORK pedagogy that is fundamentally based on promoting high levels of intellectual quality Write here pedagogy that is soundly based on promoting a quality learning environment Write here pedagogy that develops and makes explicit to students the significance of their work. Write here

SUITABILITY FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING The complexity of this unit, due to the themes and the context of the artworks it explores, makes it suitable for a later Primary Stage or Early Secondary Schooling. The unit could be adapted for earlier primary years, by looking at Lin Onus’s art making practice, and engaging it various art making forms such as collage, and using various colours. Older years, may focus more on themes and context of the artwork, and the socio-political context that it addresses.

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