NGA Chair Ryan Stokes says claims of white interference ‘too significant to just disappear’

NGA chair Ryan Stokes expressed concerns about white interference in APY Aboriginal art to gallery director Nick Mitzevich.

NGA Chair, Ryan Stokes was concerned that the APY arts controversy ​would not “just disappear.” Picture: Jane Dempster

On the day allegations of white hands in Indigenous art in the APY Arts Centre Collective studios were revealed, National Gallery of Australia chairman Ryan Stokes warned director Nick Mitzevich there were “too many specific allegations” for the controversy to “just disappear”.

The email exchange is the first insight into how the nation’s premier art institution dealt with the revelations in The Weekend Australian of the allegations against the APYACC and its leader, Skye O’Meara, which have rocked the art world and led to a tri-government probe.

The document obtained under Freedom of Information laws ­reveal Mr Stokes was concerned for the NGA’s reputation as it was about to host a major exhibition of APY art, with all of the 28 paintings for its winter show having been produced in the APYACC’s ­studios, where the alleged practices were said to have taken place. But the public still does not know the extent of Mr Stokes’s concerns, or Mr Mitzevich’s full response to those concerns, ­because the NGA has thrown a blanket of secrecy over its handling of the matter, redacting large sections of its correspondence in response to The Australian’s FOI request.

 

In the snippets that were ­released, Mr Stokes said in his April 8 email: “The article was a surprise as to how many artists were speaking out against the ­‘assistance’ provided to many of the works, There are too many specific allegations …”

The rest of the email was ­redacted, as was much of the NGA’s key correspondence about works produced in the APY studios, which were to hang in the NGA’s exhibition, Ngura Pulka.

The NGA’s recalcitrant stand has drawn a sharp rebuke from former South Australian senator and transparency advocate Rex Patrick, who said the public had a right to know how the nation’s premier publicly funded arts institution had dealt with this issue.

Senator Patrick said this was not a sensitive national security issue and in his analysis of the NGA’s claimed exemptions, “its case is not properly made out”.

“This is not about sensitive ­issues like submarine operating depths, it is not about police operations,” he said.

“It is about very important Indigenous cultural ­issues and the (NGA) should be open and transparent about this and not hide behind questionable exemptions.”

He said it was also an issue of spending of public money and the NGA had a duty to ­inform the public. It was clearly in the public interest, especially as the NGA had launched an investigation into the provenance of the works.

The new controversy comes after The Australian on Tuesday revealed the Indigenous Art Code, the industry body that polices ethical standards in the sector, had expelled the collective from its membership.

Ngura Pulka was supposed to open on June 3 and run until ­October 8. It has been ­delayed ­indefinitely following The Australian’s investigation, in which claims were made by both artists and studio staff that white studio staff had painted substantial sections of the Indigenous canvases.

On April 8, The Australian published the first of its reports, which included a video of the manager of Tjala Arts, Rosie Palmer, painting on the canvas of renowned artist and joint winner of the Wynne Prize, Yaritji Young.

NGA Director Nick Mitzevich and Sally Scales – Ms Scales, a board member of the APYACC was appointed to the board of the NGA earlier this year after a brief career as an artist. Picture: Instagram

Almost a month before this, on March 16, Mitzevich emailed Mr Stokes to alert him about The Australian’s investigation. How Mr Mitzevich came to know about the specifics of The Australian’s investigation is not known as the paper had not approached the NGA at that stage. However, Sue Cato, from the crisis communication firm Cato & Clive, was on the ethics committee of the NGA and also its foundation board.

Ms Cato had also been advising the APYACC and Ms O’Meara in an attempt to halt The Australian’s investigation.

She has since resigned from the ethics committee and has taken “indefinite leave” from the foundation board.

APYACC board member Sally Scales, whose work was to hang in Ngura Pulka, was appointed to the board of the NGA this year after a brief career as an artist.

She has recused herself from ­issues at the NGA relating to her organisation.

In his email on March 16 to Mr Stokes, Mr Mitzevich said: “Dear Ryan, I wanted to alert you to a media story coming out in The Australian on the APY Land artists. A News Limited journalist will make claims that one of the art centre managers (a white ­person) assists artists with their paintings.”

A long paragraph is then ­redacted, before he continues: “I wanted to alert you to this before reading about it in The Australian on the weekend as the claims are being made against the APY Lands Arts Collective that we are working with for our Ngura Pulka exhibition …” The rest of the email is redacted.

On April 8, Mr Stokes emailed Mr Mitzevich at 11.33am: “Nick, What do you think of the allegations they make? There are some strong advocates for APY and ­(redacted) … in relation to the claims. I don’t think they are going to just disappear so (redacted).

Mr Mitzevich replied at 4.12pm: “Dear Ryan, The story in The Australian made a series of accusations which …” The rest of the email is redacted.

This prompted Mr Stokes to email him back at 7.32pm to say he was “surprised” at how many ­artists had spoken out about the “assistance”.

The Australian’s investigation prompted the NGA to engage Melbourne silk Colin Golvan to lead a team to investigate the provenance of the 28 paintings produced in the APY collective’s studios and bound to hang on the walls of the NGA at the Ngura Pulka exhibition. It has since been granted more time to carry out its probity check.

The South Australian government, with the support of the Northern Territory and Federal governments, will also launch a broad-ranging investigation into the alleged unethical practices within the APYACC.

It has yet to announce its terms of reference for this investigation.