ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Neave, Coral (2013) Framing culture: Indigenous fine art in Far North Queensland. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/40585/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/40585/ Framing Culture: Indigenous Fine Art in Far North Queensland Submitted By Coral Neave B. A. (Hons), M. A. (Anthropology) Thesis submitted for the research degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology. James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. November 2013 Statement of Sources Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not ben submitted in any form for any degree or diploma at any university or other institution of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. ___________________________________ __________________________________ Coral Neave Date i Statement of Access I, the undersigned, author of this work, understand that James Cook University will make this thesis available for use within the University Library and, via the Digital Theses network, for use elsewhere. I understand that, as an unpublished work, a thesis has significant protection under the Copyright Act; and, I do not wish to place any further restriction on access to this work. _______________________________________ ________________________________________ Coral Neave Date ii Electronic Copy I, the undersigned, author of this work, understand that the electronic copy of this thesis provided by James Cook University Library is an accurate copy of the printed thesis submitted, within the limits of the technology available. ___________________________________ __________________________________________ Coral Neave Date iii Statement on the Contribution of Others In undertaking research for this PHD thesis: I recognise the Australian Government for the granting of a scholarship, which covered my living and research expenses for the time of my candidature. I recognise James Cook University (JCU) for providing assistance in the conduct of my PhD research and in the completion of this thesis. I also recognise the Graduate Research School at JCU for granting me relevant research funding for airfares, accommodation and other expenses. I recognise the School of Art and Social Sciences for providing me with professional support to ensure the best possible assistance and relevant advice. Most importantly, I recognise the tremendous contribution of my principal supervisor, Dr Allison Craven, who provided editorial, critical feedback, guidance understanding and academic support for the duration of my PhD candidature. Recognition must also go to my co-supervisor, Professor Rosita Henry for her support and theoretical comments that aided in the completion of the thesis. _____________________________________ _________________________________________ Coral Neave Date iv Declaration of Ethics The research presented and reported in this thesis was conducted within the guidelines for research ethics outlined in the National Statement on Ethics Conduct in Research Involving Humans (1999), the Joint NHRMV/AVCC Statement and Guidelines on Research Practice (1997), the James Cook University Policy on Experimentation Ethics, Standard Practices and Guidelines (2001). The proposed research methodology received clearance from the James Cook University Experimentation Ethics Review Committee (Approval Numbers H3802 and H3712). _________________________________________ __________________________________ Coral Neave Date v Acknowledgements My first acknowledgment is to my principal supervisor, Dr Allison Craven who has provided me with trenchant observations, continued support and encouragement, additional references to examine, commented on my field and theoretical approaches and read and advised on all drafts as to their strengths and weaknesses. During most of my time with James Cook University I was a remote student, choosing to live in Melbourne, which at times was both isolating and frustrating at not being able to ask the simplest of questions in the region of my field research. However, Allison’s willingness to provide intensive periods of supervision via the telephone and email went some way to closing that gap. My second acknowledgment is to my co-supervisor Professor Rosita Henry, who was instrumental in finding me a new principal supervisor after the first year of the programme and for allowing me to relocate to Melbourne. I am grateful to Rosita for her belief in me. Fieldwork was a large component of this thesis, especially the interviews with the Indigenous artists and arts coordinators from communities who were wonderfully straightforward and candid with their opinions. I found the buyers through a social network and they were patient with my questions. The commercial and public gallery curators gave up their busy work schedules to answer my long list of questions and I thank them for their patience and understanding. The locations of my fieldwork included the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns; commercial galleries such as Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Pizzi vi Gallery, Melbourne; KickArts, Cairns; Melbourne Museum and the Townsville Cultural Centre. Arts Queensland staff from Cairns and Brisbane helped with the facts and figures pertaining to the management and economics of the art centres in the communities and with information on the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair. It was also necessary to follow-up with all my participants by email and telephone for extra information as the project progressed. I owe a special debt of gratitude to all of these people for their assistance with my research and for sharing their time, knowledge, and patience and for their interest and encouragement of my project. vii Framing Culture: Indigenous Fine Art in Far North Queensland Abstract The thesis arises from ethnographic research with artists and arts coordinators from various Indigenous communities and urban centres in Far North Queensland. Over an extended period, I gained access to some of their views and perspectives on the relationships that exist between artists, arts coordinators, gallerists and buyers of Indigenous fine art in Far North Queensland, and in metropolitan galleries in Melbourne, Victoria, and on the role of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) in the art network. While there is a large and growing body of knowledge and research on Australian Indigenous art there has been limited attention to the region of Far North Queensland. The approach to the research is based on the notion of art as a social mediator that brings people together for exchange and collaboration across lines of difference. I present an account of an emergent art and business practice that is conducted around the sites of remote Indigenous communities and in urban centres where Indigenous artists perform the labour of art production. The analysis is therefore not of an aesthetic discourse of artwork, but of the dialogue, spaces and means by which the participants in the arts practices interact, and whereby a cultural product – the Indigenous art of Far North Queensland – is produced and exchanged. Art cannot be produced, distributed and consumed without dialogue, collaboration and interdependency which, I argue, constitutes and effects intercultural exchange, and occurs at each stage in the trajectory of an art work from maker to market. I argue that the character and dynamics of intercultural exchange are dependent on the context or conditions of ‘contact zones’ and subject to the viii dynamics of friction (Tsing, 2005). The contact zones are the abstract spaces of intercultural negotiations, comprising; dialogue between people, which may occur anywhere; literal spaces of cultural coexistence such as galleries, museums and art fairs that are sites of production and consumption as well as conduits of cultural convergence; and the hybridized arts practices that emerge in community art centres in the processes of production and distribution of art. Within these contact zones I bring the gaze directly to the spatial and interpersonal dimensions of intercultural exchange, and through ethnographic description of the spaces, reflect on the dynamics of friction and trust, and the implications for the habitus of those involved in art production, distribution and consumption. The notion of habitus, an actor-centred concept devised by Pierre Bourdieu (1992) assists in understanding communication as relative to the field where it is enacted and embedded in specific social power and dominance relations, dynamics that are at the heart of my inquiry into the Indigenous art of Far North Queensland. ix Table of Contents Statement of Sources i Statement of Access ii Electronic Copy iii Statement on the Contribution of Others iv Declaration of Ethics v Acknowledgments vi Abstract viii Table of Contents x Chapter One The Frame: Researching Intercultural Art in Far North Queensland 1 Fine Art and Friction 13 Methodology and Research Settings 19 Beyond the Frame: Engagements in Intercultural Art 24 Chapter Two Queensland, Far North