Miami’s Wynwood art walk offers everything from cheerleaders to Aborigines

Once marginalized by the Western art world, aboriginal art has earned international acclaim over the past four decades, and the gallery is presenting a revealing survey by some of its most talented practitioners. Artists represented include Betty Mbitjana, Walangkura Napanangka, Ningura Napaurrula, Takariya Napaltjari, and Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi.

Many of the works on display make reference to the “Dreamtime,” during which creation is believed to have taken place. The term can be understood as the “timeless time” or a period of formative creating or perpetual creation. The Dreamtime involved the creation ancestors’ travels, still followed today by those who seek traditional wisdom along dream paths leading to important cultural sites all over the country.

Through this fashion, art links Aboriginal people not only to their history but also to the land itself. A new generation of artists is keeping the tradition alive by tapping the distinctive, eye-catching symbols and designs.

One can discover the swirling, abstract dots and dashes in vibrant patterns such as Ngaminya, a large canvas by Napaurrula that appears to depict the cosmic whirl of a nascent universe in rich, monochromatic tarry-black, bone-white, and oxblood-red hues.

The “Dreaming” stories are considered intellectual property among the diverse indigenous Australians and are passed on protectively from generation to generation, especially among those who retain tribal connections.