In poetic written text and brightly-coloured illustrations, Bronwyn Bancroft explores the Australian landscape in a picture book which speaks to her deep love of this country. Each double-page spread explores and illustrates a particular colour showing the reader where in the natural world that colour can be found. The book gives a strong sense of the vastness of the Australian landscape as there are no urban scenes to be found in it. This is also a wonderful example to readers of modern Indigenous Australian art that combines dot painting with movement and bold shapes. The palette is extended to some more unusual colours such as indigo and the violet of a night sky. As well as helping young readers learn colours, the book will enchant others with the sheer beauty of the illustrations. Bronwyn Bancroft is a Bundjalung woman.
In her book, ‘The Art in Country : a Treasury for Children’ (Little Hare, 2020) Bronwyn Bancroft compiles four of her earlier published books: ‘Colours of Australia’; ‘Patterns of Australia’; ‘Shapes of Australia’; and ‘Why I Love Australia’. The compilation includes additional double-page spreads which encourage the viewer to look closer at the Australian environment and to find patterns in the sky, bush, night time, desert, wildflowers, river, wetlands, rainforest, ocean and reef. Here are myriad details that offer a rich and rewarding exposure to visual literacy and art techniques while showcasing the Australia environment.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
