Inside and Outside: A Cave Allegory
Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Big Cave Dreaming with Ceremonial Objects, 1972

Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri’s Big Cave Dreaming with Ceremonial Objects (1972) combines the representation of a physical place (a cave, cliffs) with the ancestral events and contemporary ceremonies associated with an important sacred site. The mixing of conventional Indigenous imagery (ceremonial object shapes, markings, designs) with three-dimensional views—from above at the top and from inside below—into a distinctive kind of two-dimensionality illuminates the creative inventions of the new art form. The undecorated black background brings the viewer into the darkness of the cave and the nighttime of ceremonial performance.