Representing the figurative

While many Indigenous communities are well known for their predilection for figurative sculpture, figurative representation in Indigenous art and culture is Australia-wide in varying capacities. Figures may be created for, and used during ceremony but increasingly many are also made specifically for the broader art market, albeit with foundation in long-practiced cultural forms. For some other communities, the use of the figure in artistic expression emerged as a deliberate change in direction from cultural objects and paintings that were usually produced. The appeal of figurative representation for Indigenous artists, is often strongly through the ancestral realm, associated with the creation of representations of ancestral beings. That is, the representation of human, or anthropomorphic framework and spirit, gives tangible, physical potency and manifestation of the body.