APY art probe must find answers

The decision by Arts Minister Tony Burke and his South Australian and Northern Territory counterparts to launch an urgent government investigation into allegations of white hands interfering in Indigenous art at the APY Art Centre Collective is both welcome and timely. In the five weeks since The Australian’s Greg Bearup exposed allegations that Skye O’Meara, manager of the APYACC, and white studio assistants routinely painted on the canvases of Indigenous painters to make the works more commercially successful, there have been repeated pleas from respected industry figures for an official probe to get to the truth. But not everyone is interested in having a torchlight shone on this scandal.

Significantly, SA Arts Minister Andrea Michaels, who will drive the probe, was both candid and correct when she said on Tuesday there probably were some industry figures who “want us to brush it under the carpet”. Displaying a clear-eyed view of the task at hand, Ms Michaels declared there were some “pretty vulnerable ­people at the centre of this and we just need to make sure we are looking after them”.

NT Arts Minister Chansey Paech, who is Indigenous, has said any investigation must explore the culture and management of the APYACC to get to the bottom of how such practices were allegedly able to take hold. He wants the investigation to focus on protecting artists, their livelihoods and culture. Ms O’Meara denies the claims. But some stakeholders argue she should stand aside for the duration of the investigation because her continued presence at the helm of the APYACC is causing immense harm to the entire industry.

The inquiry’s powers, terms of reference and head are yet to be decided. It needs to be in-depth and rigorous to restore confidence among buyers and allay the distress of Indigenous artists. Ms Michaels said other Indigenous artists around the country were suffering a flow-on effect, even when they were not caught up in the issue. “We need to make sure we are looking after the broader First Nations art community,” she said.

Philip Watkins from Desart, which represents thousands of artists from the central deserts, said he would like to see a statement from the APYACC board on how it intended to ­protect whistleblower artists and the former staff members who had spoken out. His concerns appear well placed. Serious allegations have been made that artists had been pressured to change their stories. These included claims of intimidation and claims that a $12,000 bribe had been offered to artist Paul Andy. Mr Watkins said an incident, reported in this newspaper, in which four people had turned up at Andy’s house on a Friday night, including a lawyer for the APYACC, in an attempt to get him to recant his story, was disgraceful: “It is not acceptable and it demands a serious investigation.”