Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory boss Adam Worrall breaks with NGA chief Nick Mitzevich over APYACC
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory’s director Adam Worrall will not work with the APY Art Centre Collective following its expulsion from the Indigenous Art Code.
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory has broken ranks with the arts establishment as its director, Adam Worrall, says his gallery will not work with the APY Art Centre Collective following its expulsion from the Indigenous Art Code.
His stance is a direct rebuke to colleague Nick Mitzevich, the director of the National Gallery of Australia, who has decided to press ahead with Ngura Pulka, an exhibition of 28 paintings from the APYACC.
Mr Worrall was previously an assistant director at the NGA.
After the Indigenous Art Code recently concluded a long investigation into the APYACC, its board expelled the arts body from the IAC for alleged unethical behaviour. It is the first time an organisation had been expelled since the IAC was set up as an industry watchdog in 2010.
It comes as the APYACC suffered another humiliating blow in being blocked from exhibiting at the prestigious Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, where it had previously had a stand since 2017.
“The part that really concerns me is there have been concerns raised about the APYACC and its management, and that has been expressed by the investigators of the NGA,” Mr Worrall said.
“They’ve said that’s not part of their remit, and I acknowledge that, but the expulsion of the APYACC from the Indigenous Art Code has raised further concerns,” he said.
“MAGNT won’t accept working with any (arts body) where there’s been evidence of coercion, intimidation or the unethical treatment of anybody, especially not artists,” he said.
“And I think that is where we stand in terms of that issue.
“We have really clear guidelines … and people following the guidelines of the IAC is part of that,” he said.
He said while the NGA had not delved into management issues, he hoped the South Australian-led investigation, which is being backed by the federal and Northern Territory governments, would look at this issue thoroughly.
Mr Worrall said he had great respect for the three people heading the SA investigation but he also had concerns there was no one with a deep understanding of the way Indigenous art centres operated, “and that’s perhaps something they have to consider”.
He was speaking on the eve of the weekend’s 2023 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, which are held on the lawns outside his museum, on the shores of Darwin Harbour, and are a great celebration of Aboriginal culture.
It was not a great evening for the APYACC, whose artists have previously been prominent in the winners list and are still in favour on the east coast, having taken out this year’s Wynne Prize in Sydney.
The winner of “the big one”, the $100,000 Telstra Art Award, was Aurukun artist Keith Wikmunea for his sculptural piece titled Ku’, Theewith & Kalampang: The White Cockatoo, Galah and the wandering Dog.
Anne Nginyangka Thompson, from Ernabella Arts in the APY Lands, won the 3-D Award for two intricately detailed ceramic vessels depicting Anangu history.
She is the chair of Ernabella Arts, which has dissociated itself from the APYACC over concerns about its management.
Brenda Croft, who had been asked to lead the SA-led investigation into the APYACC but had the offer withdrawn at the last moment, was the winner of the Work on Paper Award, blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher II, which depicts the artist and her son.
On Sunday, the leaders of the four peak bodies representing every Indigenous art centre in the NT, SA and WA, met with federal Arts Minister Tony Burke.
The leaders are believed to have expressed serious concerns that they have over the SA-led investigation.
They told Mr Burke they did not believe a proper investigation could be held while ever the APYACC’s current management, and particularly its chief executive, Skye O’Meara, remained in the place.
They also pushed for someone with experience of the Indigenous art industry to be part of the investigative panel and they were concerned that the terms of reference had not yet been made public.
They also wanted guarantees for whistleblowers and protocols for how the investigation would be held.
To add to APYACC’s current dilemmas, for the first time since its inception in 2016 it was banned from exhibiting at the Darwin Aboriginal Arts Fair, the industry’s showcase event.
A spokeswoman for DAAF said its board had decided not to accept the APYACC’s application to participate this year because it was not a community arts centre.
“The core purpose of our organisation is to provide support to community arts centres,” she said.
“And so we would be setting a dangerous precedent by having a secondary market organisation, like the APY Art Centre Collective, having representation at the fair.”
Industry insiders say this was effectively DAAF sanctioning the APYACC.
The individual arts centres that belong to the APYACC were allowed to exhibit but not the collective.
It seems that the APYACC tried to get around this by simply naming its stall in the corner of the Darwin Convention Centre the APY Art Centres.
Following numerous complaints, this signage was removed and the space above the stall was left blank. It was later replaced with the names of the individual arts centres.
