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Professor Jon Altman is director of The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at The Australian National University in Canberra. Professor Altman has been working with indigenous communities for nearly three decades and has witnessed the birth and growth of the indigenous arts industry in this time.
“When I first started working in this area nearly 30 years ago – it would have been unimagined that indigenous art would be where it is today,” says Professor Altman. “I think in the early 1980s it was embryonic, and there was a definite tendency to see Aboriginal art as ethnographic rather than fine art.
“It’s an arts movement that I think through public education, arts audiences have come to appreciate, both in terms of its unique form of aesthetic, but also because of the cultural and political meanings that are embedded in indigenous art,” Professor Altman says.
In May 2007, ‘Earth’s Creation’ a painting by Emily Kame Kngwarreye became the first indigenous artwork to break the $1 million barrier – smashing the previous record by almost $300,000. And the industry continues to grow.
“I suspect that the indigenous fine art market has an annual value, of somewhere maybe up towards $100 million,” says Professor Altman
Andrew Baker is a Brisbane-based gallery owner, who is a specialist dealer in indigenous artwork originating from Queensland. Since he opened his gallery in 2000, Baker too has seen remarkable growth in the industry.
“The prices of some of our artists have increased by 1000 per cent in the nine years that we’ve been dealing,” he says.
“Part of that is because the market accepts them more strongly, but also it’s because they are becoming better as artists. There’s been a lot of interest in North America; Europe has really embraced a lot if indigenous art, and increasingly Asia is becoming a very strong market place for us.”
In spite of this growing demand, the indigenous arts industry has not escaped controversy, with accusations of traders selling fake works, and of indigenous artists being exploited for commercial gain.
Professor Altman says that art buyers themselves can help to ensure the authenticity of their investments, and guard against artist exploitation, by investing responsibly.
“In some ways the challenge for investors is to operate through community-based arts organisations, or through commercial galleries that clearly have the appropriate links with the community-based arts sector that ensures that there is a legitimate link between the artists and the market,” Professor Altman says.
“By doing that, they can be assured that a high proportion of what they pay is returned to the artists. I think they can also be assured that they’re getting art with integrity, art with appropriate documentation of authorship and subject matter.”
There is huge diversity in the styles of indigenous art, with the media, colours and imagery of each painting relating to the artist’s ancestry and region of origin. Many indigenous artworks are also often intrinsically linked to ancient dreamtime stories, unique to that artist’s lineage.
Andrew Baker explained the meaning behind a simplistic looking striped canvas painted by 71-year-old Arthur Pambegan Jnr from remote Aurukun on Cape York.
“This painting is a painting of Arthur himself in his ceremonial paint. So the stripes on his body represent the markings of a flying fox. These are his legs and these are the dancing sticks he uses during that traditional ceremony. And in a way, this painting is autobiographical, which is quite unusual for an indigenous artist.”
Despite the deeply personal nature of many indigenous artworks, and the ancient storytelling traditions they often represent, most artists are happy to share their heritage in this way.
“We’ve often taken our artists out to a client’s house to show them what the works look like in a domestic setting,” says Mr Baker. “And they’re always just rapt when they see their own works and how people incorporate them into their lives.”
Professor Altman agrees.
“There’s enormous cultural reproduction that goes on through the arts, and also clearly it’s very socially cohesive for indigenous communities to have a form of production that is recognised in the market as being valuable,” Professor Altman says.
“There’s so much about indigenous Australia that isn’t valued, and that’s demeaned. Whereas for art – art seems to be an area where indigenous people excel and are recognised as excelling by national and international audiences.”
“When I first started working in this area nearly 30 years ago – it would have been unimagined that indigenous art would be where it is today,” says Professor Altman. “I think in the early 1980s it was embryonic, and there was a definite tendency to see Aboriginal art as ethnographic rather than fine art.
“It’s an arts movement that I think through public education, arts audiences have come to appreciate, both in terms of its unique form of aesthetic, but also because of the cultural and political meanings that are embedded in indigenous art,” Professor Altman says.
In May 2007, ‘Earth’s Creation’ a painting by Emily Kame Kngwarreye became the first indigenous artwork to break the $1 million barrier – smashing the previous record by almost $300,000. And the industry continues to grow.
“I suspect that the indigenous fine art market has an annual value, of somewhere maybe up towards $100 million,” says Professor Altman
Andrew Baker is a Brisbane-based gallery owner, who is a specialist dealer in indigenous artwork originating from Queensland. Since he opened his gallery in 2000, Baker too has seen remarkable growth in the industry.
“The prices of some of our artists have increased by 1000 per cent in the nine years that we’ve been dealing,” he says.
“Part of that is because the market accepts them more strongly, but also it’s because they are becoming better as artists. There’s been a lot of interest in North America; Europe has really embraced a lot if indigenous art, and increasingly Asia is becoming a very strong market place for us.”
In spite of this growing demand, the indigenous arts industry has not escaped controversy, with accusations of traders selling fake works, and of indigenous artists being exploited for commercial gain.
Professor Altman says that art buyers themselves can help to ensure the authenticity of their investments, and guard against artist exploitation, by investing responsibly.
“In some ways the challenge for investors is to operate through community-based arts organisations, or through commercial galleries that clearly have the appropriate links with the community-based arts sector that ensures that there is a legitimate link between the artists and the market,” Professor Altman says.
“By doing that, they can be assured that a high proportion of what they pay is returned to the artists. I think they can also be assured that they’re getting art with integrity, art with appropriate documentation of authorship and subject matter.”
There is huge diversity in the styles of indigenous art, with the media, colours and imagery of each painting relating to the artist’s ancestry and region of origin. Many indigenous artworks are also often intrinsically linked to ancient dreamtime stories, unique to that artist’s lineage.
Andrew Baker explained the meaning behind a simplistic looking striped canvas painted by 71-year-old Arthur Pambegan Jnr from remote Aurukun on Cape York.
“This painting is a painting of Arthur himself in his ceremonial paint. So the stripes on his body represent the markings of a flying fox. These are his legs and these are the dancing sticks he uses during that traditional ceremony. And in a way, this painting is autobiographical, which is quite unusual for an indigenous artist.”
Despite the deeply personal nature of many indigenous artworks, and the ancient storytelling traditions they often represent, most artists are happy to share their heritage in this way.
“We’ve often taken our artists out to a client’s house to show them what the works look like in a domestic setting,” says Mr Baker. “And they’re always just rapt when they see their own works and how people incorporate them into their lives.”
Professor Altman agrees.
“There’s enormous cultural reproduction that goes on through the arts, and also clearly it’s very socially cohesive for indigenous communities to have a form of production that is recognised in the market as being valuable,” Professor Altman says.
“There’s so much about indigenous Australia that isn’t valued, and that’s demeaned. Whereas for art – art seems to be an area where indigenous people excel and are recognised as excelling by national and international audiences.”
