New venue for white Tiwi art

JUST days after his exhibition was cancelled, artist Cameron Hayes has secured another.

JUST days after his exhibition at Alcaston Gallery was cancelled, artist Cameron Hayes has secured an exhibition at Dark Horse Experiment in Melbourne's CBD.

The collection of works titled The Incomplete History of Milikapiti will be displayed throughout August at the independent space where artists earn a greater proportion of the sale price, but must also fund their own publicity.

Hayes says he doesn't fear reprisals from those who this month persuaded Beverly Knight to cancel his exhibition at her Alcaston Gallery.

"It's exactly the same show," he says. "When people take time to see the work in the flesh they see it amongst other work and in its context they will see the years of effort that went into it."

Hayes' collection was inspired by the 18 months he spent living in the Tiwi Islands seven years ago. He says: "Some of the work was created while I was at Milikapiti and at that time no one I know of felt vilified by it."

But artists from the Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association in the Tiwi Islands objected to some of the works when they were brought to their attention by the arts centre managers this month.

Three were deemed particularly inflammatory: clusters of stuffed felt sticks that reference sacred Aboriginal funeral poles, a painting depicting a football field littered with VB cans and a felt sculpture depicting Tiwi women holding dainty Hello Kitty bags.

Hayes claims the negative reaction was inflamed by arts centre managers who took his works out of context.

Some members of the community were offended that a white artist had appropriated the sacred funeral poles, as well as the juxtaposition of alcohol and sport amid efforts to separate the two.

The Hello Kitty depiction was also interpreted as being disrespectful to Tiwi artist Kitty Kantilla, who died in 2003.