Painters Of Time IELTS Reading: Detailed Answers & Translation

From sand paintings on the ground and ritual motifs on sandstone cliffs tens of thousands of years ago, Aboriginal art has today entered the world’s most prestigious museums in Lyon and Paris, with masterpieces valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yet, behind this brilliant international recognition lies a tragic history: from the deep scars of forced assimilation policies and the persistent struggle to reclaim ancestral sacred lands, to the enduring power of the cosmic creation myth—”the Dreaming.” The reading passage Painters of Time offers a profound anthropological and artistic perspective on the resilient vitality of one of the planet’s oldest indigenous civilizations.

Covering topics of art history, anthropology, and indigenous culture, the passage features a wealth of information and deep philosophical layers. The test evaluates candidates through three familiar IELTS Reading task types: Matching Headings, Flow Chart Completion, and Multiple Choice. ECE will help you explore and decode this reading passage in detail through the following article.

Reading Passage

Painters of Time

‘The world’s fascination with the mystique of Australian Aboriginal art.’

Emmanuel de Roux

[Paragraph A] The works of Aboriginal artists are now much in demand throughout the world, and not just in Australia, where they are already fully recognised: the National Museum of Australia, which opened in Canberra in 2001, designated 40% of its exhibition space to works by Aborigines. In Europe their art is being exhibited at a museum in Lyon, France, while the future Quai Branly museum in Paris – which will be devoted to arts and civilisations of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas – plans to commission frescoes by artists from Australia.

[Paragraph B] Their artistic movement began about 30 years ago, but its roots go back to time immemorial. All the works refer to the founding myth of the Aboriginal culture, ‘the Dreaming’. That internal geography, which is rendered with a brush and colours, is also the expression of the Aborigines’ long quest to regain the land which was stolen from them when Europeans arrived in the nineteenth century. ‘Painting is nothing without history,’ says one such artist, Michael Nelson Tjakamarra.

[Paragraph C] There are now fewer than 400,000 Aborigines living in Australia. They have been swamped by the country’s 17.5 million immigrants. These original ‘natives’ have been living in Australia for 50,000 years, but they were undoubtedly maltreated by the newcomers. Driven back to the most barren lands or crammed into slums on the outskirts of cities, the Aborigines were subjected to a policy of ‘assimilation’, which involved kidnapping children to make them better ‘integrated’ into European society, and herding the nomadic Aborigines by force into settled communities.

[Paragraph D] It was in one such community, Papunya, near Alice Springs, in the central desert, that Aboriginal painting first came into its own. In 1971, a white schoolteacher, Geoffrey Bardon, suggested to a group of Aborigines that they should decorate the school walls with ritual motifs, so as to pass on to the younger generation the myths that were starting to fade from their collective memory. He gave them brushes, colours and surfaces to paint on cardboard and canvases. He was astounded by the result. But their art did not come like a bolt from the blue: for thousands of years Aborigines had been ‘painting’ on the ground using sands of different colours, and on rock faces. They had also been decorating their bodies for ceremonial purposes. So there existed a formal vocabulary.

[Paragraph E] This had already been noted by Europeans. In the early twentieth century, Aboriginal communities brought together by missionaries in northern Australia had been encouraged to reproduce on tree bark the motifs found on rock faces. Artists turned out a steady stream of works, supported by the churches, which helped to sell them to the public, and between 1950 and 1960 Aboriginal paintings began to reach overseas museums. Painting on bark persisted in the north, whereas the communities in the central desert increasingly used acrylic paint, and elsewhere in Western Australia women explored the possibilities of wax painting and dyeing processes, known as ‘batik’.

[Paragraph F] What Aborigines depict are always elements of the Dreaming, the collective history that each community is both part of and guardian of. The Dreaming is the story of their origins, of their ‘Great Ancestors’, who passed on their knowledge, their art and their skills (hunting, medicine, painting, music and dance) to man. ‘The Dreaming is not synonymous with the moment when the world was created,’ says Stephane Jacob, one of the organisers of the Lyon exhibition. ‘For Aborigines, that moment has never ceased to exist. It is perpetuated by the cycle of the seasons and the religious ceremonies which the Aborigines organise. Indeed the aim of those ceremonies is also to ensure the permanence of that golden age. The central function of Aboriginal painting, even in its contemporary manifestations, is to guarantee the survival of this world. The Dreaming is both past, present and future.’

[Paragraph G] Each work is created individually, with a form peculiar to each artist, but it is created within and on behalf of a community who must approve it. An artist cannot use a ‘dream’ that does not belong to his or her community, since each community is the owner of its dreams, just as it is anchored to a territory marked out by its ancestors, so each painting can be interpreted as a kind of spiritual road map for that community.

[Paragraph H] Nowadays, each community is organised as a cooperative and draws on the services of an art adviser, a government-employed agent who provides the artists with materials, deals with galleries and museums and redistributes the proceeds from sales among the artists.

[Paragraph I] Today, Aboriginal painting has become a great success. Some works sell for more than $25,000, and exceptional items may fetch as much as $180,000 in Australia. ‘By exporting their paintings as though they were surfaces of their territory, by accompanying them to the temples of western art, the Aborigines have redrawn the map of their country, into whose depths they were exiled,’ says Yves Le Fur, of the Quai Branly museum. ‘Masterpieces have been created. Their undeniable power prompts a dialogue that has proved all too rare in the history of contacts between the two cultures’.

Questions

Questions 1–6

Reading Passage has nine paragraphs, A–I.

Choose the most suitable heading for paragraphs A–F from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i–viii, in boxes 1–6 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. Amazing results from a project

ii. New religious ceremonies

iii. Community art centres

iv. Early painting techniques and marketing systems

v. Mythology and history combined

vi. The increasing acclaim for Aboriginal art

vii. Belief in continuity

viii. Oppression of a minority people

1. Paragraph A

2. Paragraph B

3. Paragraph C

4. Paragraph D

5. Paragraph E

6. Paragraph F

Questions 7–10

Complete the flow chart below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 7–10 on your answer sheet.

For 7. _______________, Aborigines produced ground and rock paintings.

Early twentieth century: churches first promoted the use of 8. _______________ for paintings.

Mid-twentieth century: Aboriginal paintings were seen in 9. _______________.

Early 1970s: Aborigines painted traditional patterns on 10. _______________ in one community.

Questions 11–13

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 11–13 on your answer sheet.

11. In Paragraph G, the writer suggests that an important feature of Aboriginal art is

A. its historical context.

B. its significance to the group.

C. its religious content.

D. its message about the environment.

12. In Aboriginal beliefs, there is a significant relationship between

A. communities and lifestyles.

B. images and techniques.

C. culture and form.

D. ancestors and territory.

13. In Paragraph I, the writer suggests that Aboriginal art invites Westerners to engage with

A. the Australian land.

B. their own art.

C. Aboriginal culture.

D. their own history.

Full Translation of the Reading Passage

[Paragraph A] The works of Aboriginal artists are now highly sought after worldwide, not just in Australia—where they are already fully recognized: the National Museum of Australia, which opened in Canberra in 2001, dedicated 40% of its exhibition space to indigenous works. In Europe, their art is being exhibited at a museum in Lyon (France), while the future Quai Branly museum in Paris—which will be dedicated to the arts and civilizations of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas—plans to commission large murals by Australian artists.

[Paragraph B] Their artistic movement only truly began about 30 years ago, but its roots go back to time immemorial. All the works refer to the founding myth of Aboriginal culture—”the Dreaming.” That internal geography, rendered with brushes and colors, is also an expression of the Aborigines’ long journey to reclaim the land that was stolen from them when Europeans arrived in the 19th century. “Painting is nothing without history,” says an indigenous artist named Michael Nelson Tjakamarra.

[Paragraph C] Currently, there are fewer than 400,000 Aborigines living in Australia. They have been completely overwhelmed by the country’s 17.5 million immigrants. These original natives have survived in Australia for 50,000 years, but they have certainly endured cruel mistreatment from the newcomers. Pushed back to the most barren, desolate lands or crammed into squalid slums on the outskirts of cities, the Aborigines were subjected to a brutal “assimilation” policy: kidnapping children to be re-educated so they would “integrate” better into European society, and using force to herd nomadic tribes into fixed, settled communities.

[Paragraph D] It was in such a settlement—the town of Papunya, near Alice Springs in the central desert—that Aboriginal painting first flourished and found its true voice. In 1971, a white schoolteacher named Geoffrey Bardon suggested to a group of Aborigines that they should decorate the school walls with traditional ritual motifs, aiming to pass on to the younger generation the myths that were fading from collective memory. He provided them with brushes, colors, and surfaces to paint on cardboard and canvas. The results were astonishing. However, their art did not come as a bolt from the blue: for thousands of years, Aborigines had been “painting” on the ground using sands of different colors and on natural rock faces. They had also painted decorations on their bodies for sacred rituals. Thus, a formal system of symbolic vocabulary had long existed.

[Paragraph E] This had been noted by Europeans earlier. In the early 20th century, Aboriginal communities gathered by missionaries in northern Australia were encouraged to reproduce the motifs found on rock faces onto tree bark. Artists created a steady stream of works under the patronage of churches—which helped sell the paintings to the public—and between 1950 and 1960, Aboriginal paintings began to reach overseas museums. The technique of painting on bark continued in the north, while communities in the central desert increasingly used acrylic paint, and elsewhere in Western Australia, indigenous women explored the potential of wax painting and dyeing techniques, known as “batik.”

[Paragraph F] What Aborigines depict are always elements of “the Dreaming”—the collective history that each community is both a part of and a guardian of. The Dreaming is the story of their primordial origins, of the “Great Ancestors”—supernatural beings who passed down knowledge, art, and survival skills (hunting, medicine, painting, music, and dance) to humanity. “The Dreaming is not synonymous with the moment the world was created,” explains Stephane Jacob, one of the organizers of the Lyon exhibition. “For Aborigines, that moment of creation has never ceased to exist. It is perpetuated