Preserving the authenticity
of Aboriginal artworks

Ruth Morley explains why a working group met
in Tennant recently to draft guidelines for a
'authentic and fair' art label

In the Northern Territory we've had a few problems with the questioning of the authenticity of certain original fine art works. A couple of those controversial cases concern Sakshi Anmatyerre and Kathleen Petyarre.
We are concerned to look after the Aboriginal art industry in the Northern Territory, so a group of people came together who represent the Aboriginal arts industry.
It all started in Alice Springs so Desart and ANKAAA are our main participants along with Batchelor College, individual art and craft centres and we've also got ATSIC and a commercial gallery representative who's on the Australian National Commercial Galleries Association.
We've been coming together to start to discuss how to address the issue. We thought a good way would be by looking at a label of authenticity. This is a label that can be stuck on any original artwork and will say who produced it, where they're from and that it is a genuine Aboriginal art product.
We then went and discussed the need to get a move on with this, because we've got a lot of tourists coming in asking the question of art and craft centres and shops, "Is this work authentic? How do I know it's authentic? I've heard about these terrible cases overseas. I want to know that what I'm buying is original and that the money goes to an Aboriginal artist."
There have been a lot of problems in the past with fair deals for Aboriginal artists so tourists and consumers are starting to wonder if any of the money they're paying for the piece of art is getting back to the artist.
There's a bit of an 'ethical purchase' movement gaining momentum. Nationally there has been an attempt by a group called the National Indigenous Arts Advocacy Association and they've been trying to implement a national label of authenticity for the whole of Australia. Because there are so many different styles of Aboriginal art and the purposes behind producing the artwork vary as well, we are supporting the national project but also advocating a regional approach to the matter.
What we'd like to do is to be able to come up with a project that is workable and as the national project evolves, which takes a bit longer to pull together because it's so big, we will be able to sort of dove tail in with that. We've been working on ways for that to happen.
The label will hopefully guarantee two things; one, that the artwork is original and two, that the artist was dealt with is a fair and equitable manner. We're looking at authenticity and quality assurance issues and we've come to Tennant Creek over the last few days to discuss this issue from a local perspective. We also extended invitations to various artists from the region to come along and learn a bit about what it is that we're doing.
We have spent some time with the community and we will be coming back to town again with a position paper to begin the process of letting people know what it is that they should know about authenticity as an artist.
This will evolve into a formally structured campaign to make everybody aware and understand. We welcome contributions and input from all sections of the community. Desart, ANKAAA or Barkly Arts can be contacted over the matter.