Cirrus@Austlit

'Songlines are an archive for powerful knowledges that ensured Australia’s many Indigenous cultures flourished for over 60,000 years. Much more than a navigational path in the cartographic sense, these vast and robust stores of information are encoded through song, story, dance, art and ceremony, rather than simply recorded in writing.

'Weaving deeply personal storytelling with extensive research on mnemonics, Songlines: The Power and Promise offers unique insights into Indigenous traditional knowledges, how they apply today and how they could help all peoples thrive into the future. This book invites readers to understand a remarkable way for storing knowledge in memory by adapting song, art, and most importantly, Country, into their lives.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Emily Kame Kngwarreye is one of the most important abstract painters of the 20th century and one of the most significant artists that Australia has ever produced. Emily’s strikingly modern and beautifully innovative works, created in an environment far away from the influence of the Western Art tradition, have been featured in over 100 exhibitions in the last decade and are housed in collections all over the world. This book has been published to support a major international exhibition, presented by the National Museum of Australia, that opened in Japan in 2007 and travels to Australia this year. Utopia: The Genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye features over 120 works drawn from private, public and corporate collections around the world, telling the story of Emily Kame Kngwarreye as one of Australia’s greatest contemporary artists, and also giving some insight into her life as a senior Anmatyerre woman and a lifelong custodian of the desert country that inspired her work.' (Publication summary)

A comprehensive, generously illustrated reference work on a multitude of aspects of Aboriginal history, culture and art. Although the emphasis is on visual art and artists, the many survey entries on indigenous languages, traditions, writing and performance provide a much wider context.

The Companion is divided into two separate yet interconnected parts. Part One consist of essays by indigenous and non-indigenous scholars and experts, interspersed with textual and visual examples. Broadly chronological in structure, it contains the following sections: 'Foundations of Being' (subdivided into 'Religion', 'Ritual and Sacred Sites', 'Kinship and Gender'); 'Colonial and Post-colonial Scenes' (art and culture in different regions of Australia); 'Renegotiating Tradition' ('Urban Aboriginal Art', 'Film and Communications', 'Literature', 'Music', 'Performance', 'Fibre-work and Textiles', 'Cultural Meeting Places', buildings and architecture) ; 'The Public Face of Aboriginality' ('Aboriginalities', 'Reception and Recognition of Aboriginal Art', 'Cross-Cultural Exchange', 'The Way Ahead'). An index to Part One provides easy access to topics.

Part Two is organised as a reference section and consists of alphabetical entries on artists, organisations, key issues and ideas.