Rising up: Digital traces and performative Indigenous culture in Australian rock art
Date
2025
Authors
Walshe, Keryn
Nowell, April
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Antiquity
Abstract
Indigenous Australian art relies on motifs and figures to visually symbolise a traditional story, myth and/or ritual, encompassing a narrated performance. In contrast, digital tracings or ‘finger flutings’ impressed into the soft precipitate covering cave surfaces are not typically considered visually symbolic expressions. Using Koonalda Cave in southern Australia as a case study, the authors argue that digital tracings also operate within a performative space, but without their narrator these undulating lines are rendered silent. Here, emphasis is placed on ritual maintenance or the spiritual propagation of a prized food or trade item that would then ‘rise up’.
Description
Keywords
Australasia, Nullarbor Australia, rock art, Indigenous art, spiritual propagation, performance art, Indigenous
Citation
Walshe, K., & Nowell, A. (2025). Rising up: digital traces and performative Indigenous culture in Australian rock art. Antiquity, 99(405), 624–637. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.16