‘I Am the Old and the New’: Aboriginal Arts in the Australian Art World, 1973-2018

Abstract

This study addresses changing representations of Aboriginal arts by an arts agency since 1973. It examines whether representations correspond with transformed arts programs or whether they are a continuation of the historical appropriation of Aboriginal arts by colonial-settler Australians. The images contribute to a particular system of meanings, ongoing challenges and change. There are moral claims about efforts to demonstrate self-determination among marginalised Aboriginal peoples. Our findings challenge expectations about images of arts, artists, and people in artistic leadership roles, revealing complex factors shaping the Australian art world during the period in which settler-colonial cultural values regarding Aboriginal peoples have shifted.