Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories Become Paintings in Myrtle Beach Art Museum Exhibit

In the Western Desert of Australia is a massive crater nearly 3,000 feet in diameter, created by a meteorite believed to have weighed some 50,000 tons. Aboriginal Australians called the crater Kandimalal; in their “Dreamtime” (i.e., creation) legends, the crater had been formed by the passage of a rainbow snake out of the earth. Identified as a meteor crater in 1947 by American geologist Frank Reeves, the crater – one of the continent’s most acclaimed geologic features – is now known as Wolfe Creek Crater.Old Crater and Water HolesWhen Reeves’ daughter, anthropologist Dr. Peggy Reeves Sanday, first visited the crater in 1999, she learned that it was part of the traditional territory of several Aboriginal groups – but that, as “traditional owners” of the crater, they were forbidden from speaking openly of their sacred knowledge of the site. They did, however, agree to share their stories through collaborative paintings. Sanday’s quest for a perspective on the meteor crater evolved into an exploration of Aboriginal aesthetics and cosmology, where the Rainbow Serpent plays a pivotal role as the primary creative agent of not only the crater but of all features of the natural environment.KandimalalOut of this collaboration came an exhibition titled Track of the Rainbow Serpent: Australian Aboriginal Paintings of the Wolfe Creek Crater, which will be on display from April 27 through September 14, 2014. Museum hours are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sundays. This exhibition was organized by the University of Pennsylvania of Archaeology and Anthropology from the collection of Peggy Sanday.

Curated by Dr. Sanday herself, the exhibit comprises 19 paintings which portray the Dreamtime stories of the origins of the Aboriginals’ ancestral lands, with most describing the creation of the crater. Works by different artists portray subtle variations in the story, depending on who is doing the telling. Commentary by the curator explains and interprets these stories.Fly DreamingThe Aboriginal paintings in the exhibition, painted in acrylic on canvas, were created in a range of sizes, shapes and colors, from vibrant to earthy. Some offer images that bring the viewer in from an aerial perspective. Also included are regional Aboriginal art and stories not directly related to the Wolfe Creek Crater but rich in the native people’s complex worldview.

Dr. Sanday is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of several books, including Aboriginal Paintings of the Wolfe Creek Crater: Track of the Rainbow Serpent (2007); Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy (2002), based on her studies of the Minangkabau tribe of Indonesia; and several works on the anthropology of gender.

All objects are on loan from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA, by which all rights are reserved.

Admission to the Art Museum is free at all times, but donations are welcome. For further information, call 843-238-2510, or visit MyrtleBeachArtMuseum.org.

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