Kleinert, Sylvia
Description
My study addresses the apparent gap which exists in the history of south
eastern Aboriginal art, from the death of William Barak and Tommy McRae at
the turn of the century, to the emergence of an urban Aboriginal art in the
1970s. An analysis of the patterns of inclusion and exclusion created by the
1929 exhibition of Australian Aboriginal Art establish the paradigm.
Discourses of primitivism constructed Aborigines as a static, tradition-based
society, distanced in time and space from the...[Show more] modern world. This selective
response gave recognition to a south eastern Aboriginal heritage and the art
produced in remote communities but elided evidence of a contemporary
Aboriginal presence in settled Australia.
Operating within the uneven power relationships of a colonial context, south
eastern Aborigines experienced oppression and discrimination, but they were
not dominated. The world view of the south east Aborigines of this study does
not reflect an assimilation of the colonising culture. The Aborigines
considered here value autonomy and independence, they maintain
relationships with kin and land and an exchange modality which governs their
relationships with the majority culture. My research therefore suggests many
more parallels between Aborigines in settled Australia and Aborigines in
remote communities than formerly acknowledged.
The chronological element in my study establishes the continuity of south
eastern Aboriginal art and traces the emergence of a more heightened
expression of public Aboriginality in post-war Melbourne. Similarities and
differences emerge within each chapter in the analysis of specific sets of art
objects produced by men and women operating within particular local
circumstances: in the pastoral and tourist industries, within institutions or
fringe camps, in the country and the city. This study explores how Aborigines
produced art for exchange as a commodity within the constraints and
opportunities presented by the new social, industrial and cultural spheres of
the modern world. In hindsight, it is apparent that the general movement of
Aborigines from rural regions to Melbourne from the late 1930s onwards
allowed Aboriginal artists to gradually negotiate entry to the infrastructures of
the professional art world. Nevertheless the structurally privileged position
which the city maintains over the country as a site of progress in the modern
world, in conjunction with artistic hierarchies which place a higher value on
the fine arts than the crafts and popular culture have contributed to the hiatus
surrounding south eastern Aboriginal art and obscured its heterogeneity.
The south eastern Aborigines of my study acted as historical agents and
chose whether they wished to become involved in the production, marketing
and response to Aboriginal art. Aborigines gained status in the process of
cultural production and a more equitable entry into the capitalist economy.
The exchange of art objects also acted as bridge between Aborigines and the
wider community by changing prevailing attitudes. In a young settler colony
primitivism fulfilled a multiplicity of ambiguous roles. There were many ways
in which mainstream artists could express their fascination with Aboriginal
culture through the appropriation of Aboriginal motifs and depiction of
Aborigines-some of which were more constructive than others. My study
focuses on several instances when south east Aborigines colonised the
professional art world, intervening and collaborating to ensure their viewpoint
was adequately represented. Over time, institutions adjusted their acquisition
and exhibition policies to accord more closely with an Aboriginal viewpoint.
Retrospectively Aborigines in the south east secured continuity with the past
through their selective appropriations from mainstream Australian culture. By
means of these adjustment processes Aborigines were able to exert some
control over the manner in which they were incorporated within the modern
Australian nation state.
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