The primary focus of this course is the visual arts of Aboriginal Australia but it will also introduce students to the crucial role of language, ceremony and song in the complex processes that have shaped contemporary Aboriginal art in its diversity, including film, televisual media and photograph. Students will become acquainted with the major art forms and traditions of aesthetic practice across Australia in order to develop an appreciation of the variation within contemporary Aboriginal art, as well as the pivotal role art plays in the politics of identity and recognition both locally and globally. Individual artists and biographical approaches will be highlighted. The course will feature lectures by Indigenous artists, film makers and curators as well as non-Indigenous guest lecturers.