Grassroots Aboriginal artists have spoken – but it seems the establishment is not listening.
In April this year, when The Australian broke the story about white artists painting on Indigenous canvases in the APY Art Centre Collective’s studios – a story that included a video of a white studio staffer “juicing up” the work of the esteemed Aboriginal painter, Yaritji Young, by swishing paint over her work – the arts establishment closed ranks.
The National Gallery of Australia came out in support of the APYACC. The director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Rhana Devenport, sent an email to staff claiming it was common practice for staffers to help Aboriginal artists in the creation of their works. She added that the gallery had been working with these artists for many years and there was nothing amiss in its studios.
APYACC artists kept being nominated for, and winning, our most prestigious awards, including the Wynne Prize.
The problem was that the grassroots of the industry, the artists and the arts centres, saw things differently. They looked at the video of a white person painting sacred and ancient stories and were outraged and appalled. They saw black artists being exploited.
It was something they’d been hearing about for years. A leading industry figure said this was a story they’d been waiting for a decade to see published.
The four peak arts bodies representing every Indigenous Arts Centre in NT, SA and WA came out in support of the reporting and insisted that the South Australian-led government investigation into the allegedly unethical practices within the APYACC be done properly and thoroughly.
Then the industry watchdog, the Indigenous Art Code, which had been conducting a long-running investigation, expelled the APYACC – an industry sanction akin to a doctor being struck off the registrar.
The Indigenous arts industry has now spoken, loud and clear.
Today, SA Arts Minister Andrea Michaels will announce the terms of reference for an investigation into the APYACC, backed by the Northern Territory and federal governments.
Esteemed and outspoken Indigenous artist and academic, Brenda Croft, had been in the running to head this investigation, right up until the last moment, when she was deemed to be “not the right fit”.
So now, barrister Anne Sibree, and Indigenous panel members Megan Krakouer and Cameron Costello will attempt to find out what happened in the APYACC’s studios.
Their task has been made more difficult for the fact that APYACC manager Skye O’Meara has refused to step aside – and her board has declined to force her.
This is despite Michaels and the four peak Indigenous arts bodies calling on her to do so.
Michaels said on Sunday that the panel would begin work as “quickly as possible” and would report back “as soon as possible”.
But the artists of APY, and many thousands of Indigenous artists deserve more than “as quickly as possible”.
They are calling out for no stone to be left unturned in finding out the truth of how these alleged unethical practices were allowed to take hold and why it took so long for anything to be done about it.
They want to know how it was that they could have heard the stories, loud and clear, while our great institutions were seemingly deaf.
These Indigenous artists and arts administrators deserve their voices to be heard.
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