Aboriginal Art History

 

 

In 2017, significant discoveries were made at the Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land, a crucial site of human migration. These findings are estimated to be up to 80,000 years old, with current confirmations at 65,000 years (+/- 5,000 years). Thousands of artifacts were unearthed alongside a stunning collection of rock art. Today, Madjedbebe is situated on the edge of the Jabiluka wetlands. However, 65,000 years ago, it lay on the edge of a vast savanna plain that connected Australia and New Guinea, forming the supercontinent of Sahul. Evidence of ochre use and 'reflective paint substances' among the oldest artifacts highlights the incredible antiquity of Aboriginal Art and its role in totemic connection, storytelling, and recording history.

With this incredible antiquity in mind, we now skip ahead many tens of thousands of years to focus on more recent developments.

Aboriginal Art Since Colonisation

Aboriginal Art really only began to emerge in the public domain around 120 years ago. In the early days of colonisation, settlers and explorers wrongly assumed that Aboriginal people had no artistic ability. They couldn't recognise traditional Aboriginal art forms, which differed significantly from the rectangular pictures and pedestal sculptures they associated with art. This misconception stemmed from a lack of understanding of the cultural and social significance of Aboriginal art. Consequently, it was decided that the responsibility for collecting Aboriginal Art would fall to museums rather than the National Gallery of Australia. Items such as boomerangs, baskets, and shields were seen as mere artefacts, devoid of artistic merit.

One instantly recognisable type of Aboriginal Art today is bark painting, traditionally used to decorate shelters and as part of burial rites. Europeans first described the use of bark painting in 1802 when they disembarked on Maria Island in Tasmania and desecrated a local burial tomb. The tomb was described as a 'conical structure roughly made of pieces of bark,' decorated with painted designs.

The first collections of bark paintings made on the basis of artistic and aesthetic merit, rather than ethnographic interest, were assembled from 1912 by Walter Baldwin Spencer (1860-1929). During his visit to the buffalo hunting camp of pastoralist Paddy Cahill (c. 1863-1923) at Oenpelli (now Gunbalanya) in western Arnhem Land, Spencer asked chosen artists to create bark paintings on small, transport-friendly bark sheets, which they had never done before. This transformed the traditional bark-hut paintings into a new medium: bark paintings.

 

3 bark paintings commissioned by Baldwin Spencer, 1912-13

 

Spencer made several collections for the National Museum of Victoria in his role as director and asked Paddy Cahill to commission bark paintings from Gaagadju artists, which were exchanged for sticks of tobacco. Approximately 170 paintings were commissioned in this way between 1912 and 1922.

The first exhibition to include bark paintings was held at the Museum of Victoria in 1913, titled "Glorious Days." A major exhibition followed in 1929, titled "Australian Aboriginal Art." An article from The West Australian (Fri 30 Aug 1929) reads:

 

ABORIGINAL ART. A NEGLECTED PHASE. Ancient Carvings and Paintings.

''On the Mootwingee rock-shelter near Broken Hill, in New South Wales, and on the Glen Isla and Langi Ghiran shelters, in the Grampians in Victoria, as well as in many other spots in Australia, there are rock carvings and paintings, done long ago by the aboriginals of Australia. Elsewhere are carved trees and bark drawings. The ethnological and art interest in these relics has long been neglected, but during last month the trustees of the National Museum of Victoria, acting upon a suggestion from the committee of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, decided to arrange for a special exhibition of objects illustrating Australian Aboriginal Art. The co-operation of the authorities controlling other museums was secured, as well as that of private collectors and an excellent series of objects, embracing a variety of decorated implements, ceremonial objects, personal ornaments and bark drawings[paintings], together with photographs of rock-shelter drawings and paintings and casts of rock engravings, were brought together....''

 

One of the key aspects of this exhibition was demonstrating the connection between bark painting and other forms of Aboriginal Art, such as body painting and rock art, through photographic images.

The exhibition fostered a new appreciation for the aesthetics of these artworks, marking a shift in the perception of Aboriginal Art. Despite this, there continued to be a lack of understanding of the cultural and social significance behind Aboriginal Art.

A long-standing debate persists today regarding whether to approach visual Aboriginal Art from an anthropological or artistic perspective. However, this first major exhibition and subsequent ones helped educate people that bark paintings were indeed a form of art.

 

 

The Early 20th Century Evolution of Aboriginal Art Appreciation

Continuing the evolution of the appreciation and display of Aboriginal Art in the early 20th century, a major exhibition of Australian art was held in 1941, titled "Art of Australia 1788-1941." This exhibition began a four-year tour of the United States and Canada, starting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The curator, Theodore Sizer (1892-1967), after reviewing the submitted work—mostly uninspired factual works by white artists—chose to shift the focus to a historical viewpoint, allowing the inclusion of Aboriginal Art in the show. He remarked, “the native art was immeasurably superior in artistic merit,” showing an early appreciation and understanding of Aboriginal Art.

 

The exhibition gave Australian Aboriginal Art unprecedented exposure in countries where it was formerly little known. After the war, anthropological interest in Aboriginal Art grew rapidly.

In 1948, an American-Australian scientific expedition to Arnhem Land was led by ethnologist C. P. Mountford (1890-1976). Sponsored by National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Australian Government, the expedition collected over 600 bark paintings and sculptures, which were partly distributed in 1956 to major state galleries in Australia. Mountford hoped these gifts would encourage these galleries to start or reactivate their own collecting programs, which they did, with the Art Gallery of New South Wales taking the lead.

In the decade that followed, the widespread display of art, craft, and scientific collections in museums and galleries, combined with high-level coverage in National Geographic, ensured that millions of people worldwide were exposed to Aboriginal Art.

 

Threats and Responses in the 1960s

In the 1960s, two main threats to Aboriginal culture were Christianity and mining. The Methodist Overseas Mission played a major role in Arnhem Land, establishing mission stations such as Warruwi (Goulburn Island) in 1916, Minjilang (Croker Island) in 1941, Maningrida in 1957, Milingimbi in 1923, Yirrkala in 1935, and Galiwin’ku (Elcho Island) in 1942.

While Aboriginal people did not necessarily object to missionaries and Christianity, they were determined not to lose their culture. Aboriginal artists began to use their art to communicate the strength of their culture and the importance of their religion and relationship with the land to Europeans.

The Vision of Tony Tuckson and Dr. Stuart Scougall

It was around this time in 1958 that the assistant director of the Art Gallery of New South Whales, Tony Tuckson (1921–73) was inspired to develop a collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art.

In 1958, Tony Tuckson (1921–73), the assistant director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, was inspired to develop a collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art. Tuckson was a visionary who believed Aboriginal art belonged in an art gallery context, a revolutionary concept at the time. With the support of Aboriginal art enthusiast and philanthropist Dr. Stuart Scougall (1889–1964), Tuckson set about changing the cultural landscape of Australia forever.

Tuckson and Scougall travelled to the small Tiwi community of Milikapiti (Snake Bay) on Melville Island to commission works for the Gallery directly from the artists, becoming pioneers in redefining the representation of Indigenous Australia. The Milikapiti artists responded passionately, converting their age-old tradition of carving and painting for ceremony into contemporary art.

The artists created a number of contemporary sculptures based on tutini from the Tiwi funeral ceremony, Pukumani, but free from ceremonial connections. Contemporary Tiwi artist Pedro Wonaeamirri acknowledged this distinction, stating that tutini “used for ceremony are made from bloodwood timber, and the ones for exhibitions and galleries are made from heavy, hard, ironwood timber.” Ever since this pivotal moment, Tiwi artists have been carving and painting their ochre jilamara (designs) for two audiences: ceremony and art gallery.

 

Pukumani Poles, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1958

Challenging Mainstream Perceptions and Asserting Sovereignty

When exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1959, the Tiwi tutini challenged mainstream society. Many critics opposed the placement of the tutini in an art gallery, promoting racist ideas that the sculptures were primitive and did not belong. Tuckson persevered, and later that year, with the continued support of Scougall, travelled to Yirrkala in eastern Arnhem Land to commission more Aboriginal Art, this time from the Yolngu people.

Two significant examples of the assertion of Yolngu sovereignty through the use of Aboriginal Art, specifically miny’tji (sacred rarrk or crosshatching designs), include the Dhuwa and Yirritja Church Panels of 1962–63, and the Bark Petition of 1963. Howard Morphy, the leading living anthropologist of the Yolŋu, emphasizes that the artists “decided how they would use their art in communicating with outsiders and how their sacred law could be presented in public contexts.”

 

 

The Bark Petition was a direct response to the threat of mining on the Gove Peninsula, adjacent to Yirrkala. It combines written statements and signatures with clan miny’tji, protesting the mine and proclaiming Yolngu land rights. Although the mine proceeded, destroying much of the local environment and many sacred sites, the Bark Petition paved the way for the first Native Title Legislation, which was passed 14 years later. More recently, Yolngu artists used their miny’tji in the exhibition Saltwater: Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sea Country to fight for Native Title over their seas. In 2008, they were successful, winning exclusive fishing rights to the Blue Mud Bay region.

Another example of Aboriginal Art being used in this context was in 1996 when the extraordinary 8 by 10 metre Ngurrara canvas was produced by senior traditional owners of the Great Sandy Desert. This collaborative work was painted at Pirnini by men and women in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia, as evidence of their connection to their land.

 

 

In 1997, tribunal members deciding on the native title travelled to Lake Priniri. Each artist stood on the section they painted and spoke about their connection to the country in their own language. This became crucial evidence in their claim for native title, but it would be ten long years before it was officially recognised, although some claimants were still dismissed.

During these times, Aboriginal people used art as a tool and a means of communication. While it was a new concept, some believed that strategies were required to maintain their cultural integrity and not overshare sacred elements of their culture.

The Rise of Modern Aboriginal Art in the Central Deserts

During this time, bark painting was regarded as the authentic form of Aboriginal Art, and art from the desert was little known. In the Central Deserts, the trees required for bark painting did not grow, so Aboriginal people created art in other forms. They produced rock art and painted on their bodies, on the ground, and on objects.

 

Nosepeg Tjupurrula, Uta Uta Tjangala (painted back) and George Tjangala west of Papunya, June 1972. Image: Llewellyn Parlette

 

Artists creating a ground painting, 2002, Excerpt from, Wamulu, pg 52 - 53

 

The early 1970s was a time of great uncertainty in the desert. Aboriginal people were being forcibly removed from their traditional lands and herded into government settlements, making way for the cattle industry, mining, and atomic bomb testing. These artificial communities, where different language groups were forced together, caused many social and cultural problems. People were forbidden from speaking their languages or practising their culture. This was government policy aimed at assimilating Indigenous people into Western society, in place since the 1930s in Haasts Bluff and Hermannsburg and from the 1950s in Papunya community.

In 1971, a school teacher and art teacher named Geoffrey Bardon arrived in Papunya. He noted that elders, when telling stories, drew pictures in the sand to accompany their tales. He encouraged the schoolchildren to paint a mural in a similar traditional style. Culturally, however, it was the elders' place to do so, and they intervened. The artists relished the opportunity to paint traditionally, which contrasted with the settlement's policies. They were painting their country from which they had been taken, reconnecting to it through their art. With this in mind, they asked Bardon for more and more materials. This was the genesis of a revolution in Australian Art and the beginnings of the Modern Aboriginal Art Movement.

Papunya itself is the epicentre of the Honey Ant Dreaming, where associated Songlines converge. It is famously known for its namesake, the ‘Honey Ant Dreaming’ mural. This renowned mural, adhering to the strict protocols necessary for the art form and giving it a spiritual context, was painted on the school's wall. At the centre of the community, the mural was seen and admired by many and is broadly understood to be the catalyst for an artistic revolution in Aboriginal Art.

 

Kaapa Tjanpijinpa standing in front of the Honey Ant Dreaming Mural, Papunya School, 1971

 

In “an act of cultural vandalism” (Ryan in Bardon, 1991), the mural was painted over, but its influence had already reached far into the community. Smaller paintings of Jukurrpa (Dreaming stories) appeared on an array of surfaces, like Masonite boards, matchboxes, and tin cans. Traditionally, these images were created in sand and as body and ground painting for cultural ceremonies. Hard surfaces and acrylic paint were a new, Western way of making permanent art.

As the work gained popularity, it also drew criticism. Concerns were raised about sharing too much of their sacred culture, which would otherwise be restricted. Sharing certain elements “broke the immutable plan of descent,” interfering with the link that the men had with their ancestors. Strategies were developed to preserve the cultural integrity of the paintings. One example of this is the idea of masking certain elements using dots. Clifford Possum's painting is a good example of how traditional concepts can be depicted in a contemporary way. The painting depicts a possum, with footprints that look like human forms and circular shapes that represent the sites of the ancestor's travels. However, Possum used the idea of clouds of fire and smoke to cover up the tracks of the ancestor as a conceptual device to convey the same message.

 

L Bush-fire II, ©Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, 1972  R Sandhill country west of Wilkinkarra, Lake Mackay, ©Timmy Payungka Tjapangati, 1972

 

This technique creates something spiritually active for Aboriginal people because it depicts the powers and forces of the ancestors within the earth itself. Artists soon began taking this concept to extremes, such as in the painting by Timmy Payungka Tjapangati, which shows a sacred site, but all the icons and symbols seen in earlier desert paintings have disappeared entirely. These works may appear abstract, but they are far from it. These pictures are not simply art; they are entrancing and, when viewed in person, have an amazing movement that can be described as humming with ancestral power.

However, not all desert communities were happy with this new painting movement in the 1970s. The elders from the Yuendumu community (est. 1946), while undertaking the establishment of the Men's Museum for cultural purposes, felt that the painters in Papunya were throwing away their cultural ways and did not want to participate in it at the time.

The Yuendumu Doors and the Spread of Aboriginal Art Initiatives

But the seed had been sown, and in the 1980s, community art initiatives started popping up across the country, including for the Warlpiri People at Yuendumu.

In the early 1980s, Warlpiri people too were experimenting with acrylic paints, and a cumulative decision had been made by the community: it was important for the Warlpiri people living in Yuendumu to share their knowledge, their ancestral traditions, and their culture with the world beyond the desert.

In 1982, Terry Davies, the school principal, invited a group of Warlpiri elders to paint their sacred Dreamings onto the classroom doors of the school. This act opened up a two-way education between the Aboriginal and white communities, introducing Aboriginal Art and associated stories to those who had never seen it before. Thirty doors were painted with important Dreaming stories, teaching the Yuendumu children about their ancestry and connection to country. These doors remained at the school for 12 years before being acquired by the South Australian Museum when the school was eventually upgraded.

3 of the doors, courtesy Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu

The doors were a way for Warlpiri people to connect the Yuendumu youth to their culture, which was particularly important since white settlers now dictated much of daily life. Not only were these tangible paintings essential for imparting knowledge, but they also served as a source of pride for Aboriginal people in the community. These rich, vibrant, and public paintings were a way to preserve their culture and history, and, more so, to celebrate it.

Unlike more traditional examples of Aboriginal artwork, the Yuendumu doors are brightly coloured with a full palette. Able to use more than the ochres and earth tones of their ancestors, the artists took advantage of Western mediums to create Dreamings full of vitality and eye-catching patterns and hues. Intricately detailed, the Yuendumu doors are an important example of the successful transference of Aboriginal Art from its original ancient designs to a large-scale, Western medium.

Each door depicts a different Dreaming story to which the Warlpiri people are so intimately connected. While Dreamings are passed from generation to generation with deeper meanings than the art world is privy to, each painting offers a glimpse into the profound connection to the land, ancestry, and the strength of Warlpiri culture.

A significant exhibition from this time on an international scale was the commission and inclusion of Yuendumu artists to create a ground painting for the 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la terre (Magicians of the Earth) in Paris. This exhibition had a profound impact on the recognition of non-Western art from across the world, including the importance of Aboriginal desert art from Australia.

 

Ground painting installation, 1989, Magiciens de la terre (Magicians of the Earth), Paris

 

The Legacy of Emily Kame Kngwarreye

One particular artist of note and reverence in the desert after this time is Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910-1996). Born in 1910 in the Utopia Homelands, Kngwarreye produced an incredible spectrum of work over an eight-year period.

Her remarkable artworks are inspired by her cultural life as an Anmatyerre elder and her lifelong custodianship of the women’s Dreaming sites in her clan Country, Alhalkere. Her first introduction to Western art techniques began with batik, a method of wax-resist dyeing cloth, but Kngwarreye eventually gave up this labour-intensive art form.

When acrylic painting was introduced to the community in 1988, Emily gravitated to it. Her first acrylic painting, Emu Woman, was an instant hit, making her an overnight sensation. Demand for her artwork skyrocketed, causing her many problems within the community under pressure from family members and outsiders to produce work.

 

 

Over the next eight years, Kngwarreye produced approximately 3,000 paintings, roughly one per day. While her career was relatively short, she was highly prolific, with her individual style evolving as she progressed as an artist.

Separate from the predominant ‘Aboriginal style,’ Kngwarreye’s paintings are rooted in marks painted on sand and the body. Her art details strong connections to her community and country through ancestral history and law, and the kinship she shared. Kngwarreye’s art transitioned from dots to stripes, symbolic of rivers and terrain. Her later paintings contained larger and larger dots, then patches of bright, bold colours and rings during her ‘colourist’ phase. Black and white paintings with bold lines, representing body painting, gave some of her final pieces a more expressionist feel.

 

Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Untitled (body painting series), 1996, MCA

 

Kngwarreye maintained a deep connection to her ancestry and ceremonial traditions. Yam Dreaming was particularly important for her for several reasons. First, the yam was an important source of food for her people, though not always easy to find. Second, her middle name ‘Kame’ means ‘yellow yam flower.’ These personal ties are shown in her work, which Kngwarreye herself described as ‘based on all aspects of the community’s life.’

Kngwarreye will always be one of the most significant artists in Australian contemporary art.

For greater depth about Emily and her art practice, please visit: Emily Kame Kngwarreye: Life and Art

Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley

Around the same time as the Western Desert Movement was gaining momentum, a significant event shaped Aboriginal Art in the North-west Kimberley region of Australia and strongly influenced the art being produced.

In 1974, Cyclone Tracy caused widespread damage and destruction, killing 71 people, injuring hundreds, and leaving over 30,000 people homeless. The storm hit when Darwin had a population of around 42,000 people, and it is estimated that over 70% of the city's buildings were destroyed or damaged.

For the Indigenous people of the Kimberley, Darwin was seen as the centre of European culture. The interpretation of Cyclone Tracy was that of a rainbow serpent destroying this central European culture and was seen by Aboriginal people as a warning from the ancestors to keep their culture strong.

The event led to several ceremonies sharing the strength of their culture being performed in public before white people. The aim was to show Europeans that despite the destruction, their language and traditions were still intact. This, in turn, had a significant impact on the Aboriginal Art of the region as it inspired a number of artists to create works that reflected the strength of their culture and the meaning of the cyclone and its impact.

In the years leading up to the cyclone, there had been a lot of cultural and social dislocation for the Aboriginal people in the Kimberley region, having been forced from their traditional lands. Many Aboriginal people in the Kimberley worked on cattle stations set up in the late 19th century. These workers suddenly lost their jobs when owners were forced to start paying wages as a result of the 1967 referendum when Aboriginal people were finally recognised as human beings with equal rights within the constitution. Previously, they had not been recognised as Australian citizens. With the loss of work, most were forced to leave the stations and form townships and leased settlements on the edges of white towns.

The cyclone was seen as an opportunity to show that their culture was resilient and that they were still proud of their heritage and traditions. This led to an increase in the production of artwork that reflects traditional stories and narratives of the Kimberley people.

 

The leading artist from this time was Rover Thomas (circa 1926–1998), born at Gunawaggi near Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. From the age of ten until he settled at the Aboriginal community called Warmun near Turkey Creek, Rover Thomas ‘grew up’ in his tribal culture, moving with his family to various pastoral stations and later working as a stockman in the Kimberley and the Northern Territory.

 

One night, Rover had a dream in which he received a revelation from the spirit of his aunt, who had died as a result of the floods caused by Cyclone Tracy. Rover saw this as a warning against the decline of cultural practices, and his dream inspired the Krill Krill ceremony, which included dances, songs, and the use of painted boards tracing the woman’s after-life journey from her death near Derby back to the place of her birth near Turkey Creek.

Rover Thomas and his Uncle Paddy Jaminji first started painting dance boards on dismembered tea chests for this ceremony in 1977. From the early 1980s, Thomas was painting on canvas with ochre, pigments sourced from the land surrounding him, giving his works a textured finish.

Rover covered a great number of themes in his work, from the rapid changes occurring in Aboriginal life, the displacement of his people from their ancestral lands and subjugation, and the conflicts between white settlers and Aboriginal people that often ended in bloodshed and tragedy. One series of paintings from this time depicted massacre sites from the frontier wars in the Kimberley. Notable works include ‘Ruby Plains Massacre' and 'Camp at Mistake Creek'.

 

Ruby Plains Massacre 1, ©Rover Thomas, 1985

 

Rover Thomas inspired many East Kimberley artists who followed, including Queenie McKenzie, Freddie Timms, and Paddy Bedford. With traditional mythology and storytelling so essential to his work, Thomas created a style that presented the landscape of his art as both a physical location and a spiritual site. Considered an innovator, his style changed the way the art world viewed Australian Aboriginal Art, redefining the framework in which it was conceptualised.

As his style evolved, he took inspiration from his desert upbringing, creating pieces that give a map-like, aerial perspective of the land, littered with symbolic images. Deceptively simple yet powerful, Thomas’ works brought a modernist, abstract style to Aboriginal Art. His love of his land, his people, and painting pushed him to create.

The universal appeal of his artwork brought him into the spotlight, and in 1990 he represented Australia at the Venice Biennale, a significant moment for Australian Aboriginal Art. This highlighted the important contributions of Indigenous artists in the Australian art scene. His work also drew comparisons between Western art and Aboriginal Art, with Thomas himself, whilst visiting the National Gallery, likening the works of American abstract expressionist Mark Rothko to his own work, saying: ‘That bugger paints like me!’

 

 

Urban Aboriginal Art

Along the East Coast of Australia, in urban populations, Aboriginal Art is deeply connected to the impact of colonialism and the forced displacement of Indigenous peoples from their traditional lands. Early Indigenous artists like Tommy McRae (c.1835–1901) and William Barak (1824-1903) in the heavily colonised East were often commissioned to create pictures of traditional life and ceremony by white settlers as a record of a way of life that was disappearing. These early works give a rare perspective on the impact of colonialism on Indigenous communities but have only in recent times taken their place in an artistic context.

 

 

In the 1980s, there was a revolution in the urban Aboriginal Art scene, as artists began to be recognised as true artists rather than makers of kitsch. The first cooperative of Aboriginal artists was established in Sydney, helping to give artists access to studio space and materials, as well as opportunities for exhibitions and sales. Artists like Trevor Nichols, one of the pioneers of this movement, often used their work to address political issues of the time. Other notable artists include Richard Bell, Lin Onus, and Gordon Bennett.

 

Possession Island, ©Gordon Bennet, 1991

 

Over time, Indigenous artists in urban areas have sought to revive traditional practices and reinterpret official Australian history through their art. Photography also became an important medium for Indigenous artists, allowing them to take control of the representation of Indigenous people and challenge stereotypes.

 

The movie star: David Dalaithngu on Bondi Beach, ©Tracy Moffat, 1985

 

Aboriginal Art serves as a window into the rich and deeply rooted culture of the Aboriginal Peoples of Australia, providing a glimpse into their connection to the land and the Dreaming, and offering a source of great pride for the artists who produce it.

Please note, we have skimmed over much to maintain a readable and accessible text. Notable exclusions are Torres Strait Islander Art, art from Far North Queensland and the Pilbara regions, along with artist spotlights on the artists noted above and key figures such as Albert Namatjira, Ginger Riley, and Sally Gabori, among many others.

For more on these artists please see our text: 25 Famous Aboriginal Artists You Should Know

Additionally, special mention to Wally Caruana, whose 2009 keynote speech at the Toledo Museum of Art on contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art has shaped key elements and the structure of our text. We highly recommend his book; Aboriginal Art by Wally Caruana

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