Historical ironies: the Australian Aboriginal art revolution

Abstract

This paper examines the Aboriginal Art revolution that has occurred over the last 40 years in Australia, and in particular, the idea that we should understand Aboriginal art as a form of contemporary art. Not only does the Aboriginal arts movement challenge the legitimacy of Australia’s sovereignty through its legal claim to and spiritual connection with the land, but it challenges broader historical and art historical myths – the inevitability of the demise of Aboriginal cultures, and artistic myths about the ‘universality’ of art. Artistic claims to the ‘right to appropriate’, if this is what is required for expression of their artistic vision, show themselves to be elements cultural hegemony of colonisation.