That's deadly! An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts studio in Cairns, Queensland

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic and historical account of art and identity production by Indigenous artists in far north Queensland, Australia. It explores how both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists begin to understand and express their Indigeneity through artwork in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art studio in the Tropical North Queensland College of Technical and Further Education (TNQT TAFE), Cairns. It examines why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people choose to enter into the TNQT Indigenous arts program, how they navigate the expectations of the course and the arts market, while highlighting the complexities and difficulties of being an Indigenous artist. The history of this unique program - the first of its kind in Australia - explores the desires of the students who first created it in 1984 as well as the students who enter through the studio doors in 2010. The studio demands a certain form of expression and 'cultural' knowledge, which fits well with some students and not so well with others. Looking at the artworks painted, dyed, carved and printed in the studio gives testament to the various ways in which students engage with the issues of representation and how they understand their place in the world. "Deadly" was the highest compliment an Indigenous artist could give an artwork inside the studio and the concept is defined as the basis from which an Indigenous artwork is recognised, promoted and accepted. What is or is not deadly centres around contested spaces and ideas of 'culture' - a concept which has been enmeshed with concepts of identity. The history of Indigenous art production in Queensland, along with the purposeful development of an art market and the effects of government policies in conceptualising that market, has been largely left unexplored but has had an enormous effect on the development and expression of Indigenous identity and approaches to an objectified idea of culture as something which is visible rather than internal. This thesis looks at how contemporary, urban Indigenous artists face a number of stereotypes and public expectations when producing artworks. These expectations create a range of tensions for artists that stem from both the success of works from the Northern Territory as well as the past policies of the Queensland government. In particular, it will be shown that the actions of the government body established in the 1950s to create a market for Aboriginal art, Queensland Aboriginal Creations (QAC) has left a mixed legacy for Queensland Indigenous artists. Their art styles have been misinterpreted as derivative copies of 'true' Indigenous works and the positive outcomes that have come from QAC's engagement with communities and artist has not been fully recognised. The legacy of QAC continues on to today and the TNQT Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art studio reflects these tensions in Indigenous art. Show more