UV Songlines: Illuminating Ancestral Roots - Audio Descriptions

The image shows a man standing with ultraviolet light shining onto him. His face, torso, and arms are decorated with body paint. The man is stood with his torso facing the camera, with his head turned to his right. His face has white paint across the jawbone and up onto his forehead, with a single stripe of white paint across his cheek and over the bridge of his nose. On his neck and down to the middle of his biceps on both sides of his arms is white paint in three strips of diagonal patterns. Adorning the chest of the man’s torso are white spirals, and going down the top of the torso to the bottom of the abdomen is the Kaurna shield painted with a greenish yellow and pinkish red. From the elbow down to the tips of the man’s fingers, his arms are entirely painted with a vibrant reddish orange paint.

The image shows an Aboriginal Aunty stood on side profile, with detailed body paint across her face, neck, upper torso, and arms. There is also paint within the woman’s hair. The paint Is illuminated with ultraviolet light, making her appear to glow. The woman’s hair glows a deep blue. There is a single stripe of white paint across the woman’s forehead. The rest of her face has two colours, with the top being blue, and the bottom half being purple. This purple paint goes onto the woman’s right shoulder. The woman is wearing a dress that shrouds her body in black. The woman’s upper torso and arms, although only her left arm is visual at this angle, shows a number of Aboriginal symbols painted in white body paint. There are depictions of people sitting around a fire near a river on her upper torso and shoulder. There are emu tracks going down her bicep muscle, and near the elbow showing three communities connected by rivers. The woman’s forearm shows more animal tracks.

The image shows a woman standing and holding materials for an Aboriginal smoking ceremony including a Coolamon and gum leaves. The woman is stood facing towards us, with her head looking down at the materials she is carrying. She is painted with white body paint across her whole body and has matching white hair. She is lit by an ultraviolet light, illuminating the white paint markings and hair to make it appear to be glowing. The woman’s face is partially obscured by her long white hair, but a single stripe of paint across the woman’s cheeks and the bridge of her nose. There are two stripes of white body paint going from the woman’s shoulders and across her upper torso. There is a thicker line, which sits above a thinner line. Several other lines of paint branch off the second thinner line, two on each shoulder, and two going down the woman’s torso. The lines on the woman’s shoulders each form a thin semicircle, encircled by a thicker semicircle. The thicker semicircles have another line branching off them to go down the woman’s arms. There are also two lines of paint going down the woman’s legs.

The image shows a pregnant woman sitting cross-legged facing towards the camera, majority of her body is decorated with white body paint markings. The woman is lit by an ultraviolet light, making the body paint seem to glow. Her head is hanging down, staring at her painted stomach, her right arm and hand resting across her chest. Her upper torso and right arm are covered with traditional Aboriginal symbols, patterns, and dots. Her left arm and leg are unpainted. Her stomach is decorated with symbols of people surrounding the centre of her stomach, which has a large circle around it, filled in with symbols of rivers and animal tracks. Her right leg has patterns and symbols going down and stopping near the ankle.

The image shows a woman standing with her back toward the camera, turning her head to show the side of her face. The image cuts off halfway down the woman’s back, only showing the top half and the woman’s face. The back of her torso has been decorated with body paint and is lit with bright ultraviolet light. There are paintings in a traditional Aboriginal style done in black body paint contrasting with the vibrant oranges, reds, yellows, and pinks on the woman’s back. These paintings depict Aboriginal meeting places connected to each other with pathways.

The image shows a dark-skinned man standing shirtless whilst having body paint on his face, chest and back. The man is stood showing his left side, with his head turned to face the camera. His gaze is directed straight at the viewer. There is a spotlight on him as well as an ultraviolet light making the neon colours seem to glow. On the man’s face is a ring of white paint outlining his face, with a stripe of white paint going across his cheeks, and over the bridge of his nose. There is also white paint going from his left shoulder down to the bottom of his abdomen. There are two stripes of white paint on the top of his bicep muscles, and white paint on the left wrist and the back of his left hand. On the man’s back are multiple illustrations done in the traditional Aboriginal painting style, showcasing people sitting around fires, animal tracks, and water holes. There are green dots being stenciled onto the man’s back, as well as orange and green paint dripping down the man’s torso and splattered across his neck and shoulders.