Aboriginal Exhibitions and Aboriginal Communities: Contemporary Curation in Australia

Abstract

Contemporary curation in Australia is made better if complicated by the call for Aboriginal consultation. Galleries and museums planning on exhibitions with Indigenous material should have policies in place to liaise with Indigenous communities about the best practice model for displaying cultural material. However, across Australia there is no single way of going about consultation with communities – curators must find their own way. This was made evident to me recently and quite poignantly when I was brought on board at the end of the exhibition development phase involving Aboriginal paintings at a major Australian institution. This article will demonstrate is that not only do institutions need to properly budget for the processes of consultation but they need a period of consultation to scope the involvement of Aboriginal stakeholders in the exhibition development process.