Rock Art Research

This essay explores how rock art can be studied through a biographical lens using both informed and formal methodologies. It demonstrates how identifying the artists—known and unknown—behind the images can illuminate the social, cultural, and historical contexts of their creation. Drawing on global examples,  with a particular focus on Africa, Australia, and North America, the essay highlights the need to integrate archaeological, ethnographic, and art-historical perspectives to uncover individual agency, creativity, and intent within rock art traditions. It argues that while biographical approaches offer a powerful means of reconnecting artworks with their makers and communities, such perspectives have often been constrained by cultural-historical frameworks and colonial assumptions that deny Indigenous authorship. By re-centring the artist, their lifeworlds, and ongoing cultural traditions, this study seeks to humanise rock art research and encourage a more inclusive, ethically grounded understanding of this diverse global heritage.