This is what stencil art is.

Stencil art is the name of the style of art found in many caves and is usually depicted as a hand print which is usually located in amongst a group of hand prints. Usually when examined carefully, there are actually many layers of these prints on the wall surface.

This technique is accomplished by using a ground ochre suspended in water. The person who wants to leave the hand print takes this suspension into their mouth and then blows it from their mouth over the hand placed on the wall surface. This creates a splatter painting but clearly shows the outline of the hand which was placed on the wall. The hand becomes the stencil.

These paintings can be found in almost all of Australia and today are protected. In some areas initiated men (Community Elders) who are the care takers of the sites will refresh some of the stencil paintings making identifying the actual age of the paintings very difficult as this restorative practice has likely gone on for many thousands of years.

The future of this practice is however in danger as fewer men are becoming initiated thus not fully sharing in their cultural secrets. It is only the initiated men that are allowed to restore these paintings and when they are gone the restoration will stop as it already has in many areas.

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