Authorship, autenticity and appropriation: reflections based upon Australian aboriginal painting

• Published in: Revista brasileira de ciências sociais 2012-01, Vol.27 (79), p.81
• Main Author: Goldstein, Ilana Seltzer
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• ISSN: 0102-6909; 1806-9053
• DOI: 10.1590/S0102-69092012000200006

Indigenous people comprise only 2.5% of the population in Australia, but, in­terestingly, the proportion of artists is much higher among them than among the white. This article proposes a re­flection about the explanations for this phenomenon and discusses the recent inclusion of indigenous art in Australian museums, auction houses, and commer­cial galleries, what has raised a number of issuesregarding the determination of authorship and authenticity. Although these categories are central to the mar­ket and exhibition circuit, they are relatively arbitrary and negotiable. Fur­thermore, dialogues between white and indigenous artists started to happen, as well as the appropriation - not always authorized - of traditional iconography by companies and even the federal gov­ernment, which has been making use of this repertoire in the construction of the Australian national identity.