Two Thirds Sky (ATOM Study Guide)

Two Thirds Sky is a documentary journey into the Australian interior and the creative lives of five contemporary artists, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, experiencing their ways of seeing desert country. The flourishing of central desert painting, with its depiction of Dreamings and stories, has not only captured national and international attention, but has provoked a fundamental rethinking of landscape painting in Australia from the 1970s onwards.

When it comes to painting landscape, especially desert country, non-Indigenous artists in Australia have felt caught between inappropriate European conventions on the one hand, and on the other hand the birthright sense of belonging and understanding so vibrantly expressed in Aboriginal art.
Finely edited by Nick Meyers, Two Thirds Sky features the artists Gloria Petyarre, Judy Watson, Peter Sharp, Jenny Sages and Idris Murphy. Cinematographer Joel Peterson's noteworthy dissolves and fades make a series of striking connections between the paintings and the land.

Curriculum links:
Two Thirds Sky will be relevant to students of:

• Cultural Studies
• Indigenous Studies
• Australian Studies
• Studies of Society and Environment
• Art
• Media Studies

The documentary is suitable for students from middle to senior secondary school and tertiary education level.