Ochre has been recently revived and reclaimed in the Wiradjuri area of Dubbo, NSW. Both the process and finished product incorporate Indigenous cultural practices in the region.

Contemporary approaches to using ochre in artworks have been shaped by engagement with Indigenous designs, processes and protocol, with instruction from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture Teacher Teresa Yasserie at theWestern Institute of TAFE, Dubbo Campus since 2000.

It was in the latter part of 2005 that ochre became the catalyst for increased activity, precipitated by enthusiastic students. Ochre took centre stage in a strong drive to project local Indigenous culture through painted surfaces.

Following their vibrant on-campus exhibition in September 2005, the group was approached by the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative to exhibit at their Sydney gallery in September 2006. The Boomalli exhibition, mobochre, is presented in honour of the Indigenous photographer and Boomalli founding member Michael Riley, who spent some of his formative years in Dubbo.

Over the past twelve months ochre has been vigorously applied by the group in Dubbo to an expanding range of surfaces. Small wooden sculptures, featuring delicate traditional burned patterns often related to the designs used on local scar trees, are dwarfed by tall wooden poles striped and swirled with rich ochre. Canvases are swathed with the substance, and wooden jewellery is daubed gently with its singing hues.

The texture of the ochre is rich and inviting, its colours ranging from strong gold to red-brown, striking white, and a gritty iron-rich red. It commands a presence that can be bold, strident and arresting, yet at the same time powdery and soft. It is a complex medium.

The process of producing handmade paint from ochre is a visceral and very social act. As Yasserie relates, it often takes place out in the sun, and is often characterised by laughter flying out from a "visual film of dust and busyness."

The ochre is ground with a stone, or, if it is of harder substance, a metal file. Its powder sloughs off the original chunk of ochre with the steady application of effort: the first step of a slow process of production, which creates close connection with the medium. It is steady work with a comfortable rhythm. This first step in creating the paint, like the final product, brings people together.

Consistent work at grinding ochre produces a stream of fine powder, which is then gathered together and transformed into a rich, earthy paint by beingmixed with a contemporary binding medium.

When the powder is fully dissolved in the binder, and stirred to a smooth paste, it is then applied to the selected surface, whether wood or canvas, in designs relating to Indigenous cultural practices.  

According to Indigenous protocol, ochre from a particular area can only be used by people who are part of the area from which it is sourced. The artists involved in using ochre in the Wiradjuri area continue this tradition, and participants who originate from other regions bring their own ochre to work with.

Traditional use of ochre in the Wiradjuri regionis for designs painted on the bodies of men, women and children, for dancing and corroborees. This has been continued with a new Indigenous dance group who trained at the Yarradamarra Centre, also at the Western Institute of TAFE Dubbo Campus.

The group, named Maarruu Walan, which means 'lightning strong' have performed widely throughout the state, including at the welcome to the Commonwealth Games Baton in Sydney.

For their performances, ochre and feathers are applied totheir bodies in stark, vivid patterns. To make this body paint, ochre is first crushed, then mixed with water to form a paste, and finally applied to the body by hand.

The dancers form a rapidly moving artwork as they perform traditional dances with verve and humour, and a conviction to pass on local traditional culture in the present day. This extends to their involvement in training Indigenous children from local schools in traditional dances.

Ochre painting in this region has become an earthy cohesive element connecting a wide range of people in the local Indigenous community - epitomised in the 2006 NAIDOC Day celebrations at the Yarradamarra Centre.

Outside sweeping sand art installations were dotted with ochre-decorated wooden sculptures. Inside, the dancers and their young protégés flung ochre-striped limbs with rapid movements in spot lit darkness. Meanwhile 'johnny cakes'(small dampers) were cooked outside on a fire all day to fuel the activities.

There are many symbolic elements that bind communities - flags, catch-cries, architectural icons of place. Ochre, which glows from still surfaces and flashes on moving bodies, is a repeated thread of cultural strength, a gritty spark of warmth.

www.boomalli.org.au 

Image: Various artists, sand art installation with ochre and wood sculptures, 2006, NAIDOC Day celebrations, Yarradamarra Centre, Western Institute of TAFE, Dubbo Campus.