Aims | Outline | Curriculum Relevance | Background | Activities | Links |
Making It: Programmes
27–39
Programme 35: Inma Maku
After watching the
programme, pupils should be able to:
- communicate design ideas in different ways, bearing
in mind aesthetic qualities, and the use and purpose for which the
product is intended;
- explore the sensory qualities of materials and how
to use materials and processes.
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The Outback of Australia is a wild and beautiful
land, with deep red earth and wide flat plains, leading to far-off
mountains. There are few tall trees, just low scrub and bushes.
Although it is beautiful and striking, it can be a harsh landscape:
you have to learn survival skills to live here.
A group of Aboriginal people drives deep into the Outback to
celebrate Inma Maku. It's a chance for the modern kids to learn a
bit about the old ways of their people. An Inma is a celebration of
the earth and land with song, dance and feasting. Maku means
'witchetty grub'. The kids dig in the roots of an acacia tree to
find plump white witchetty grubs. These are the larvae of the
cossid moth. Witchetty grubs made a traditional meal for Aboriginal
tribes in the days when they roamed the land, hunting and gathering
their food. Today, Aboriginal people often live in towns and
cities, so events like Inma Maku help them not to lose touch with
their past. They tell stories about 'The Dreamtime', paint their
faces and bodies with ancient designs and perform traditional
dances by the firelight after feasting on the grubs.
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- Art: investigating and making art, craft and
design.
- Science: materials and their properties.
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Aboriginal people have lived in Australia for at
least 40,000 years and perhaps as long as 65,000. For much of this
time, their way of life remained unchanged, with groups of people
roaming the land hunting and gathering the food they could find.
About 150 years ago, Europeans began to settle in large numbers in
Australia. They claimed the land as their own and forced many
changes on the Aboriginal people. Today, Aboriginal families are
increasingly concerned that their beliefs and traditions will be
forgotten.
Inma Maku is a celebration that reminds Aboriginal children about
the old ways. Older members of the family tell stories about the
Dreamtime, which explain how the world was created by Baiame, the
Great Spirit. Other stories explain the origins of different plants
and animals and contain lessons about how to live well and in
harmony with the land.
Aboriginal people have always made distinctive art, using natural
materials such as bark, earth and stones. Animal pictures are often
outlined with rows of dots. The bones of the animal are drawn
inside the body, as if the picture was an X-ray. The spaces around
the bones are decorated with patterns of lines or interlocking
triangles. The animal is often placed against a background of
lines, circles or triangles. Follow the links from this site to see
some examples of Aboriginal art.
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Make a Dreamtime
Design
You will
need: sticks of white chalk; paper bag; sheets of black
paper.
- Begin by following the links from this site to
research traditional Australian Aboriginal designs. Make some quick
sketches in chalk of what you see.
- Aboriginal designs often represent the shapes of
plants, animals or features of the local landscape in a simplified
(or 'abstract') form, using dots, broken lines or spiral
shapes.
- Choose an animal you like, or a feature of the
landscape around you (for example a street lamp) that could be
given the same treatment.
- Put the chalk in the paper bag and crush it to a
powder.
- Wet your finger and dip it into the powder. Use your
finger to sketch your design, either onto dark paper, or onto a
dark patch of wall or ground.
The chalk patterns are easy to rub away and alter.
Keep changing details of your pattern unl you are happy with the
design.
Make a 'Bark
Painting'
You will
need: square of cork tile; chalk powder; white paint and
dark brown paint; pva glue; twig or sharp stick.
- Sketch your design onto the cork tile with your
finger, using the chalk powder.
- When you are happy with your design, fill in the
areas around it with dark brown paint. Use your fingers to do this
too – it helps you to make a bold design, without too much
detail.
- When the brown paint is dry, dip a twig into the
white paint and go over your chalk marks.
- The paint will sink into the cork tile and the
strong colours may fade a little. If your design becomes unclear,
try mixing a little pva glue into the white paint and apply it
again.
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Find out more about the lives of Aboriginal kids in
Australia's Northern Territory:
www.ozoutback.com.au/postcards/postcards_forms/abor_children_1/
Find out more about Inma Maku ceremonies:
www.pc.gov.au/inquiry/broadcst/trans/brisbane200599.pdf
Find out more about the beliefs of Aboriginal peoples:
waru.org/organisations/nwkrc/
Find out more about the art of Australia's Aboriginal
peoples:
www.virginia.edu/kluge-ruhe/index.php?p=_home_
www.desart.com.au/
www.aboriginalartonline.com/culture/symbols.html
Find out more about traditional Aboriginal dances:
www.bangarra.com.au/
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