The Australian government will launch an investigation into recent allegations that white employees at an Aboriginal arts center interfered with the work of Aboriginal artists.
The investigation marks the latest development in a controversy that began last month when The Australian The newspaper published a report claiming that staff members of Tjala Arts, a studio on Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) land, had added paint to pieces created by well-known indigenous makers.
Tjala Arts is one of 10 indigenous organizations belonging to the collective APY Art Center. Following the report, the group “vigorously” denied what he called a “total narrative” that its members’ work has been compromised, calling the claims “false and grossly defamatory”. The collective said the non-Indigenous painters mentioned in the article were “professional artistic assistants” working under the direction of the authors of the works.
“The Australian claims to want to open a debate about the role of art assistants in contemporary Indigenous art, but their reporting reveals that they have already taken sides in this debate without properly educating themselves about industry-wide professional practices,” added the APY Art Center Collective. .
For months, the APY Art Center Collective has been working with the National Gallery of Australia on “Ngura Pulka – Epic Countryan upcoming exhibit at the museum called “one of the largest and most significant First Nations community art projects ever developed.” The show is “entirely conceived, created, directed and determined by the Anangu people”, the collective has previously stated.
But after The Australian story, the National Gallery has indefinitely postponed the event’s scheduled opening on June 3 and announced the launch of a “independent examination of the provenance and creation of the works in the exhibition.” The review is expected to be completed later this month.
In the meantime, elected officials seem to be following the example of the museum. This week South Australian Arts Minister Andrea Michael met with Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke and Northern Territory Arts Minister Chanston Paech to plan a joint investigation into allegations against the ‘APY Art Center Collective.
The survey will be funded by both the national and South Australian governments, but will be primarily organized by the latter, according to a statement from Michael. (The South Australian government is a major funder of the APY Collective.)
“The allegations that have surfaced are concerning, and all three governments are committed to protecting the integrity of First Nations art,” Michael said today. “We are committed to helping First Nations artists share their art with the world, and ensuring that their culture and stories are respected is extremely important. The three governments have not yet provided a timeline for the project.
Latent in the inquiry are long-standing issues regarding the treatment of Indigenous artists by institutions that claim to support them. But this particular case can be boiled down to the roles played by the assistants of Tjala Arts and other APY collective organizations.
“I will not tell First Nations artists whether or not they are allowed to be helped,” Burke’s reporters said in Canberra last week, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. “What matters is making sure people have creative control. And to the extent that there are allegations that there was no creative control, then it’s important for us to to be able to work out the facts on this.
“But I certainly do not intend to imply a standard and a set of rules around First Nations artists that does not apply to any other artist in the world or throughout history,” added the Federal Minister of the Arts.
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