art + soul, a one hour documentary series by Warwick Thornton and Hetti Perkins, is a powerful and emotionally engaging series about contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, and the artists who create it.
In episode two, Hetti explores the themes of Dreams and Nightmares.
The non-Indigenous term, the ˜dreaming’, refers to the creation era in which ancestral spirit beings shaped the land. They still live within the land. Gija artist Patrick Mung Mung, from Warmun, in the East Kimberley, tells the story of Rover Thomas who started painting after Cyclone Tracy in 1974, when he ˜received’ a ceremony via a series of dreams.
Past, present and future often merge in contemporary Aboriginal art. When the AGNSW acquired 17 evocative Tutini funeral poles from Melville Island in 1959 it was the first time a gallery, rather than a museum, had exhibited contemporary Aboriginal art. Nearly 40 years later, Hetti vividly recalls the dramatic affect those poles had on Tiwi Islands artist Pedro Wonaeamirri.
