In our contemporary world representations are crucial to social relationships. Edward Said, in his important book Orientalism (1978), showed that representations are the outcome of colonial discourses - the ways and means by which we talk about 'the other'. Said demonstrated that ideas and images of the 'other' which are taken to be objective truths are, in fact, cultural constructs based on myths, generalisations and stereotypes. Many contemporary Indigenous artists are challenging these problematic stereotypes.

'Primitive' art

From the late nineteenth century Aboriginal art gradually gained acceptance but it was understood primarily through the concept of 'primitive' art:

The way primitive art was defined was both a misrepresentation and a distancing mechanism (Morphy, 1998, p. 371).

 

 

The category of primitive art allowed the art of Indigenous people worldwide to be admired and Indigenous art became a source of inspiration for European artists. But the problem was, primitivism tended to conflate Indigenous people with nature and locate them back in the distant past.

Objects were collected and displayed in museums and galleries under ethnic and stylistic categories as Aboriginal art, American Indian art, Maori art. Sometimes individual objects were placed alongside works of art by European artists to indicate the importance of primitive art as a source of inspiration for European artists. However, none of these displays gave consideration to the cultural meanings and significance of these objects for the Indigenous artists who made them.

'Authentic' Aboriginality

Morphy shows how representations of Aboriginal people were framed around a benchmark for traditional and authentic Aboriginality located in the remote past or the distant present. As a result Aboriginal art to the north of the continent was elevated to recognition, while Aboriginal people in 'settled' Australia were rendered invisible.

An urban response

Aborigines living in more urbanized areas found that their own distinctive and dynamic culture was overlooked. As Bundjalung artist, Bronwyn Bancroft comments:

For years we were punished for being black and now we're punished for not being black enough. (cited in Perkins, H. & Lynn, V. 'Blak Artists, Cultural Activists', Australian Perspecta 1993, Sydney, Art Gallery of NSW, pp. x-xii, p. x.)

Aboriginal stereotypes

Muecke: Available discourses...

Langton: 'Well I heard it on the radio...'

In these readings, linguist Stephen Muecke and Indigenous anthropologist Marcia Langton discuss Aboriginal stereotypes.

Muecke argues that Aborigines are understood through three prevailing discourses:

• anthropological;
• romantic; and
• racist.

Both Muecke and Langton point out that representations of Aboriginality are created and sustained through literature, history and media.

Susan Sheridan (cited in Muecke) argues for another category of Aboriginality: political identity as Aboriginal.

Koori, Murri, Nunga, Nyungah

In the 1960s and 1970s Aborigines adopted the collective term Koori as an assertion of independence and unity. Koori had long been used by Aboriginal communities in the southeast before it became public. Nowadays many Aborigines prefer to be called by their own name: Murri in northern New South Wales and Queensland, Nunga in South Australia and Nyungah in southwest Western Australia.

Aboriginality and the media

Examine representations of Aboriginality in your everyday life: on radio and television programs, in newspapers, novels and historical texts.

What representations of Aboriginality have you found?

Richard Bell Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell's Theorem) 2003

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas 240 x 240cm Telstra Collection, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Reproduced with permission of the artist.

Click image for a larger view.

Brisbane-based artist, Richard Bell won the major prize of $40,000 in the 2003 Telstra Art Awards at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory with his painting Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell's Theorem). The critical response was very mixed. Several items about this controversy are included in your Reader:

Burton: Winner blasts art whitewash ...

McCulloch: Painting with punch.

White: It's certainly not art ...

In your opinion have Aboriginal stereotypes operated in the media reports about Richard Bell and his painting?