Where "X-ray" Painting Comes From
The term is first recorded in the early 1940s, though the painting tradition itself is far older, rooted in rock art found across Western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
As art historian R. Edwards described it in 1978, the artist "portrays not only the external features of the animal, human or spirit being he is painting, but also the spinal column, heart, lungs and other internal organs... a conventional way of showing that there is more to a living thing than external appearances."
The gallery's prize piece was an X-ray painting of a barramundi, its spine and organs visible through the skin.
How Aussies Actually Use It
Used specifically for this named regional style, most associated with Western Arnhem Land artists, rather than Aboriginal art in general.
Still actively practised today, seen in works ranging from bark paintings to gallery pieces depicting fish, animals, and spirit figures.
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