Margaret (Peggy) Grove, Ph.D. is an expert scholar on the subject of Aboriginal rock painting. In her abstract to "Women Of The Ancestors: Visible Bodies, Visible Blood" she writes:
"The rock art figures of western Arnhem Land, Australia, surrounding the lagoon at the foot of the sacred mountain called Mt. Borradaile, comprise one of the largest groupings of female figures in the world, with some sites consisting of over 90 percent female images. These females correlate to the mythologies of the area where origin stories hold a female as the main creator being. The rock paintings display characteristics of corpulent vulvas in the shape of a serpent’s head, dancing or/and ecstatic postures, overtly sexual poses, indications of female puberty rituals, menstrual blood flow, and are painted with vibratory patterns which are metonymic extensions of the Ancestor Being moving from the Dreamtime realm into present day. The use of this pattern, called rarrk, elevates these decorative infill painted females from that of secular to sacred status as they take on the potency of the Rainbow Serpent. Aboriginal song cycles of the region indicating the power of blood in the culture and images of these once invisible female bodies will now become visible in this presentation."
I'd like to find other research that cites menstrual blood and rock paintings.
"The rock art figures of western Arnhem Land, Australia, surrounding the lagoon at the foot of the sacred mountain called Mt. Borradaile, comprise one of the largest groupings of female figures in the world, with some sites consisting of over 90 percent female images. These females correlate to the mythologies of the area where origin stories hold a female as the main creator being. The rock paintings display characteristics of corpulent vulvas in the shape of a serpent’s head, dancing or/and ecstatic postures, overtly sexual poses, indications of female puberty rituals, menstrual blood flow, and are painted with vibratory patterns which are metonymic extensions of the Ancestor Being moving from the Dreamtime realm into present day. The use of this pattern, called rarrk, elevates these decorative infill painted females from that of secular to sacred status as they take on the potency of the Rainbow Serpent. Aboriginal song cycles of the region indicating the power of blood in the culture and images of these once invisible female bodies will now become visible in this presentation."
I'd like to find other research that cites menstrual blood and rock paintings.
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