The National Gallery of Australia announced that it will review 28 paintings by indigenous artists, after allegations of tampering by white art assistants.
In early April, The Australian reported that works belonging to artists from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) region may have been subjected to interference by white art staff of the museum. The report was created after extensive interviews of the APY residents on the roadblocks they faced as artists. The report came at a time when National Gallery had already announced the Ngura Pulka – Epic Country exhibition. Scheduled to open in June, the exhibition was described as one of the largest exhibitions dedicated to First Nation artists. It will entirely comprise works from APY residents.
However, the museum has now announced that they have created a committee to review 28 indigenous artworks for the upcoming exhibition. The aim of the committee is to ascertain whether the works are genuinely the products of their attributed artists, or where significantly modified by someone else. The committee will also look to gauge how much effective control the APY artists had over their works.
The committee is headed by lawyers Colin Golvan and Shane Simpson. Simpson is an expert in property and copyright laws in Australia while Golvan has worked extensively on copyright protection from various indigenous groups. Glass artist Yhonnie Scarce and academic Maree Meredith are also part of the committee as First Nation advisors. While the museum seems to have done its part in taking corrective measures, the incident has already raised wider questions about the authenticity of other APY artworks, which have been becoming increasingly popular in recent years.
