APY artist Paul Andy allegedly offered $12,000 to recant white hands on black art claims

Paul Andy alleges that two artists connected to the APY Arts Centre Collective offered the inducement during a tense exchange at his Adelaide house.

Paul Andy, centre, was one of several Indigenous artists who made claims that his paintings, and the artworks of others, had been painted on by white staff. Picture: APY Art Centre Collective

Whistleblower and Indigenous artist Paul Andy has allegedly been offered $12,000 to recant on his claims that white artists had painted on the canvases of Aboriginal artists in the APY Arts Centre Collective’s studios.

Mr Andy and two witnesses told The Australian two artists connected to the APYACC offered the inducement during a tense exchange at his Adelaide house at the weekend.

One of the artists accused of trying to pressure Mr Andy into dropping his claims against the collective has paintings that are to hang in the National Gallery of Australia’s showcase winter exhibition Ngura Pulka, which has become controversial.

The allegation comes as a team of investigators appointed by the NGA is in South Australia interviewing people about the provenance of works destined for the exhibition, which will showcase APY art.

In a months-long investi­gation by The Australian, Mr Andy was one of several Indigenous artists who made claims that his paintings, and the artworks of others, had been painted on by white staff.

The Australian can also reveal a second artist who had made claims of white interference in Indigenous art has separately claimed to have been pressured by a person who was working for the APYACC.

“I told her that what you saw and what you read was the truth,” the second artist, who declined to be named, said.

“I was so angry about it. I’m not going to change my story.”

Mr Andy said on Friday night he was at his granddaughter’s house when he received a phone call saying an APYACC lawyer wanted to see him.

When he returned to his house in the Adelaide suburb of Pennington, “I got the shock of my life to see everyone there in the house.” There were two artists known to Mr Andy who paint at the APYACC’s Adelaide studio, while another person associated with the APYACC and the lawyer arrived soon after.

According to Mr Andy, the lawyer pulled him aside and talked to him about a letter that was sent in his name to The Australian in March.

The letter said: “I was told to say a story about how Skye (APYACC manager Skye O’Meara) says no, no, no when she doesn’t like the way an artist is painting. I felt like I had to say this to keep people happy. It’s not true, she is a good friend and a good worker and she knew my dad too. White people can’t touch Tjukurpa, anyway it’s too strong. I felt pressured to say those things, I didn’t mean it, it was wrong. And I am sorry.”

Mr Andy previously told The Australian he did not write that letter and he stood by his allegations of white interference in his art, and the art of others.

He was also very angry that the name of his father, a senior and respected APY lawman, who has since passed away, was invoked in the letter.

On Friday night, Mr Andy said, he told the lawyer that the letter was wrong and he did not write it. According to Mr Andy, the lawyer agreed that he would destroy the letter.

In an email, the lawyer said that he was invited to Mr Andy’s house on Friday night, with the two artists who know Mr Andy. “Paul objected to the inclusion of his father’s name in the letter, but otherwise strongly agreed with other aspects of the letter I discussed with him, in particular that no one has messed with his Tjukurpa,” the lawyer said in a statement.

Mr Andy disputed this, as did the other witnesses.

Mr Andy speaks Pitjantjatjara. English is his second language, and the lawyer confirmed that he spoke to him in English.

According to the witnesses, a lengthy and heated discussion was held in Pitjantjatjara between the two artists and Mr Andy.

The Australian is not suggesting that either the lawyer or the other white person present had any understanding of the nature of this conversation.

According to three people who were at the house – Mr Andy, Tjimpuna Williams and Eva Wells, all fluent in Pitjantjatjara – the two artists tried to pressure Mr Andy to change his story and said that if he did, he’d be allowed back to the APYACC studios to paint.

One of the artists, the three witnesses claim, said to Mr Andy that if he changed his story, there would be $12,000 in his bank account by Monday. “I immediately made it very clear that it was wrong and I wouldn’t be doing that,” Mr Andy said.

A still image from a video showing Rose Palmer, manager of Tjala Art in the APY Lands settlement of Amata, contributing to a painting by Indigenous artist Yaritji Young.

When he refused, the two women artists became angry with him and said he would be taken to court.

Mr Andy asked the lawyer, in English, if he would be taken to court. The lawyer said he wouldn’t, according to Mr Andy. “They (the two artists) were trying to frighten and threaten me,” he said.

One of the artists who was at Mr Andy’s house on Saturday night and who allegedly made the $12,000 offer to return to the APYACC’s studios, has works scheduled to hang in the NGA’s exhibition.

Tjimpuna Williams, who was also at the house, says the two women artists were harassing and pressuring Mr Andy, and they kept saying “Endorse the letter. Endorse the letter” and he would be given $12,000.

She said Mr Andy was steadfast in his disapproval of the plan.

“He said, ‘I’m not worried about the money. I am not going back there to work.’

“(The two women artists) kept going and going,” she said. “They said if you keep this up, you are going to be in court and all these things are going to happen to you. (One of the artists) was saying it in Pitjantjatjara … she kept saying over and over ‘Just endorse it. Say yes. Say yes. Just agree to say yes and you’ll get the money’ … She kept saying it over and over.”

Ms Williams was in the next room but in view of Mr Andy, and she was indicating with her hands: “Don’t you do it. Don’t you dare do it.”

She said several people in the house heard the conversation, the argument went on for a long time and the lawyer said to Mr Andy that he understood his position and he was prepared to tear the ­letter up.

The two artists, Ms Wells said, kept saying to Mr Andy that if he didn’t change his story “all the (APYACC) art (centres) are gunna close”.

Ms Wells said the two artists said to Mr Andy in Pitjantjatjara: “Paul, if you say it is not true … $12,000 will be in your bank account.”

Mr Andy replied: “I’m gunna tell the truth and it’s my story.”

“The lawyer said (to Mr Andy) I understand your position, I’m prepared to tear this letter up right now,” Ms Williams said. “But Paul took the letter off the lawyer and tore it up himself and (the two artists) then cried. Paul showed everyone the letter he’d torn up into little bits and said, ‘Right, here’s the letter’.”

The lawyer would not confirm if the letter had been torn up and said: “I am not aware of any offer by anyone to pay Paul Andy money to endorse any letter.”