Aboriginal art is an expression of a complex religion and culture. It is an integral part of a ritual life which encompasses the totality of an entire belief system.

"... That's how we are,
telling stories through the painting."

(Rubuntja. From Green, J. 1992.
Country in Mind: the continuing tradition
of landscape painting. In J. Hardy, J.V.S
Megaw, and M.R Megaw (eds): 281.)
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The Western concept of art as fine art, something which is divorced from the sphere of the everyday, has little applicability to Aboriginal belief or practice.

Aboriginal art derives from the Ancestral past
Traditional Aboriginal art derives from the Ancestral past - the Dreaming. Dreamings are Ancestral Beings, spirits which moved about the unshaped world in the Dreaming period, such as the Honey Ant, Witchetty Grub, Bush Plum, and Possum Dreamings.

These Beings formed the landscape and its peoples, as well as creating the laws of social and religious behaviour. The Ancestral Beings are eternally present, for they continue to reside in the land and species.

These relationships involve rights and obligations, including the maintenance of Ancestral power through ceremonial activity. All ritual activity is determined by the Ancestors; every step of a dance, every verse in a song, and every pattern in a design. Kwementway Kngwarreye describes her painting like this:

Kwementway Kngwarreye
"my paintings are the whole lot, that's all, whole lot, awelye (my dreaming), arlatyeye (pencil yam), arkerrthe (mountain devil lizard), ntange (grass seed), tingu (dog), ankerre (emu), intekwe (plant, emu food), atnwerle (green bean), and yam seed. That's what I paint, whole lot..."

From The Eye of the Storm,
exhibition catalogue,
National Gallery of Australia, 1997: 99)
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These ritual forms are all embodiments of the Ancestral spirit, and it is the responsibility of each individual and group, be it familial, totemic, or clan, to ensure this spirit is nurtured and maintained.

The act of painting in Aboriginal belief serves to activate the powers of the Ancestral Beings. This, in turn, defines and reaffirms the artist's spiritual identity, as well as reproducing Aboriginal culture over time.

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