Aboriginal art in the Top End of Australia has evolved over many thousands of years as a remarkably rich and diverse artistic expression. Contemporary Top End art includes bark paintings, hollow log coffins, sculpture and fibre craft. The origins of these art forms lie in rock art, bark shelters, body painting and the daily life of a hunter gatherer people.

In this module we examine regional and individual styles of art within the cultural and language groups of the Top End.

In Yolngu Country, we study the art of Yolngu speaking people from north-eastern Arnhem Land.

In Dynamism and Diversity we examine the region of central Arnhem Land, an area extending from the coastal settlements of Maningrida, Milingimbi, Ramingining and Elcho Island south to Ngukurr on the Roper River.

Kunwinjku, Tiwi & Larrakia covers the art of Kunwinjku in western Arnhem Land, centred around Oenpelli (Kunbalanya), the art of the Tiwi from Melville and Bathurst Islands and the art of Larrakia in the Darwin region.

View the contents of this module in a table.