Indigenous Australian Art: An Analytical and Cultural Survey

Class code ANTH-UA 9038 or SCA-UA 9836

Instructor Details Stephen Gilchrist [email protected]

Class Details Indigenous Australian Art: An Analytical and Cultural Survey Thursdays, 1pm-4pm Room 304 NYU Sydney Academic Centre Science House, 157 Gloucester St, The Rocks

Prerequisites None

Class Description This course is a survey of the principal themes and issues in the development of Indigenous art in Australia. It focuses on some of the regional and historical variations of Aboriginal art in the context of the colonization of Australia, while considering the issues of its circulation and evaluation within contemporary discourses of value. Topics include the cosmological dimensions of the art, its political implications, its relationship to cultural and national identity, and its aesthetic frameworks. Students will visit some of the major collections of Indigenous Australian art as well as exhibitions of contemporary works. There will also be guest presentations from Indigenous artists and Indigenous art curators.

Desired As a result of successfully completing this course, students will be able to: Outcomes • Demonstrate knowledge of the diversity of Indigenous arts in Australia—ranging from acrylic paintings of the Western Desert to bark paintings of Arnhem Land to urban, politically motivated works in various media (including photography, sculpture, print-making, etc)

• Think about these works both as objectifications of cultural expression (Aboriginal histories, religious beliefs, cultural/linguistic practices) and as political interventions

• Appreciate the role of anthropology/anthropologists in defining “Aboriginal art” as a genre of high art; think about “Aboriginal art” as itself an intercultural production, and be able to thoughtfully address our own participation in defining this category on various markets/multiple regimes of value

• Relate case studies in Indigenous arts to broader anthropological themes,

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including the definition of race/Aboriginality in Australia; the recognition and representation of Indigenous Australians in various forms (the constitution, art museums, media); how value is understood/accrued on markets; destabilizing dichotomies between remote/urban, art/craft, ethnography/art, prehistory/history; defining and problematizing “authenticity,” and “appropriation;” and many more.

Assessment Class participation including two components: Components 1) Active engagement in discussions and respectful listening; collaborative group work as occasionally assigned (10% of final grade). Excessive laptop use for non- academic work will be monitored in class. 2) 10-minute presentation of course materials during the semester (to be decided via student sign-up on the first class). You will need to summarize authors’ arguments, present major themes, and raise questions for further discussion. Collaboration with another student is recommended. Film/video/web clips and/or PowerPoint are welcome but not required (10% of final grade).

Review of a current exhibition of Indigenous Australian art around Sydney. I will provide a listing with addresses. 4-5 pages; (15% of final grade). Due by 5pm, Thursday March 6, Session 5.

Artwork Presentation Visit the Art Gallery of New South Wales and select and research one work of art by an Indigenous artist that is on display and prepare a 10 minute, object-centered talk on this work. (This will be 15% of the final grade). We will be presenting in front of the selected works in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Due by 2pm, Thursday April 10, Session 9.

Biographical essay of an Indigenous artist You will examine their stylistic and cultural influences, the relationship between the artist’s life, work and interpretations of that work. Alternatively you can compose a profile of an Indigenous art-producing community documenting chronologically its adaptive practices and including some information about one of its better-known members. 4-5 pages; (15% of final grade). Due by 5pm Thursday April 24, Session 11.

Research paper: On a significant topic/issue in Aboriginal art. 10-12 pages; (35% of final grade). Assessment criteria and a list of suggestions will be distributed in session 9; you may also choose your own topic/issue in consultation with the lecturer (please schedule an in-person conversation; email is not sufficient.) Due by 12pm Monday May 19.

Written work must include appropriate citations and references (reference lists are not included in the required number of pages); please follow the American Anthropological Association Style Guide, available on the NYU Classes site for our

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course (check under “Resources”).

Failure to submit or fulfil any required course component results in failure of the class.

NYU Sydney has a strict policy about course attendance and late submission of work. Make sure you familiarise yourself with the policies on attendance and late submission of work in the NYU Sydney Student Handbook. All absences will need to be cleared by the Assistant Director, Academic Programs.

Assessment Grade A: Excellent performance showing a thorough knowledge and understanding of Expectations the topics of the course; all work includes clear, logical explanations, insight, and original thought and reasoning. Creative work is of a highly sophisticated standard.

Grade B: Good performance with general knowledge and understanding of the topics; all work includes general analysis and coherent explanations showing some independent reasoning, reading and research. Creative work is of a superior standard.

Grade C: Satisfactory performance with some broad explanation and reasoning; the work will typically demonstrate an understanding of the course on a basic level. Creative work is of an acceptable standard.

Grade D: Passable performance showing a general and superficial understanding of the course’s topics; work lacks satisfactory insight, analysis or reasoned explanations. Creative work is of a basic standard.

Grade F: Unsatisfactory performance in all assessed criteria. Creative work is weak, unfinished or unsubmitted.

Plagiarism Policy The academic standards of New York University apply to all coursework at NYU Sydney. NYU Sydney policies are in accordance with New York University’s plagiarism policy. The presentation of another person’s words, ideas, judgment, images or data as though they were your own, whether intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes an act of plagiarism.

Any course work must to be submitted as a hard copy AND in electronic form. All students must submit an electronic copy of each piece of written work to www.turnitin.com. Instructions will be provided to you in class.

Penalties for confirmed cases of plagiarism are severe and are dealt with by the Director, NYU Sydney, not your instructor. Your home school will be notified and you will be dealt with according to the standards of that school. The codes of conduct and academic standards for NYU’s various schools and colleges are outlined in the respective school’s academic resources.

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Required Text Morphy, Howard. Aboriginal Art. London: Phaidon Press, 1998

Supplemental • Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial 1st ed., 2007 Texts • Sutton, Peter, Dreamings, The Art of Aboriginal Australia, 1998 • Neale, Margo, The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture • Genocchio, Benjamin. Dollar Dreaming: Inside the Aboriginal Art World. Hardie Grant Books, 2008 • Myers, Fred. Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art. Duke, 2002. • Perkins, Hetti. Art and Soul • Perkins, Hetti One Sun One Moon • Meerreeng-An: Here is My Country, 2010 • When the Wattles Bloom Again: The Life and Times of William Barak, Last Chief of the Yarra Yarra Tribe, by Shirley W. Wiencke (1984) • Ian McLean, How Aborigines Invented the Idea of Contemporary Art (2011) • Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu (2009) • Half Light: Portraits from Black Australia, Hetti Perkins and Jonathan Jones • Painting the Land Story, Luke Taylor 1999 • Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art, Seattle Art Museum • Fine Early Aboriginal and Oceanic Art, Mossgreen Auctions 2009 • The Moving Images of Tracey Moffatt, Catherine Summerhayes • Utopia: The Genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye • Alison French, Seeing the Centre: The art of Albert Namatjira 1902-1959 (2002), National Gallery of Australia • Lane, Carly and Franchesca Cubillo (eds) Undisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial. National Gallery of Australia (2012) • Bardon, Geoffrey and James Bardon. Papunya: A Place Made After the Story. The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement. (2007) [2004] The Miegunyah Press.

Session 1 What is Indigenous Art? A Journey to Recognition. February 6 Required Reading: • Morphy, Aboriginal Art, pp. 13 – 65

Recommended Reading: • Jolene Ricard “Absorbing or Obscuring the Absence of a Critical Space in the Americas for Indigeneity: The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian,” Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 52 (Fall 2007). Harvard University:

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Peabody Museum Press, Boston, pp 85-93.

In Class Media: Art + Soul episode 1 (2010), dir. Hetti Perkins (55 mins)

Homework Assignment: Research the Indigenous peoples from your hometown or city and write one or two paragraphs based on your findings. Please be prepared to present and discuss briefly in class on Thursday February 13.

Session 2 Tallawoladah (The Rocks) and the Colonization of the Place now termed Sydney. February 13 Required Reading: • Val Attenbrow, Sydney’s Aboriginal Past (2010): pp. 1-36; • Marcia Langton, (2008) First Australians. Marcia Langton and Rachel Perkins eds. pp. 3-25 “They made a Solitude and Called it Peace”. •

Session 3 The Memory of Place: Aboriginal rock engravings of Sydney and Murujuga. February 20 Required Reading: • Val Attenbrow, Sydney’s Aboriginal Past (2010): pp. 143-151 (read carefully); 161-188 (just focus on Bondi and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park) • Robert G Beednarik, “The Survival of the Murujuga (Burrup) Petroglyphs,” (2002) Rock Art Research 19(1): 29-40.

Required Field Trip to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and guided tour of Aboriginal rock art sites with curator Matt Poll from the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney. This excursion will be instead of the regularly scheduled class time at the Academic Centre.

Homework Assignment: Visit the Art Gallery of New South Wales and select and begin research on one work of art by an Indigenous artist that is on display. This research will form the basis of a 10 minute talk that you will deliver in front of the selected work and in front of your class mates on April 10, session 9.

Please email me your selection by March 6, Session 5 to avoid duplication and to ensure that the work will still be on display for our presentations. Every day at 11am, the Art Gallery of New South Wales offers free guided tours of its Indigenous collection in the Yiribana Gallery, departing from the main Information Desk. Consider joining one of these or other free guided tours. Please note that Indigenous art is hung throughout the Gallery and isn’t just on the lower ground floor.

Session 4 Indigenous Art in the 19th Century: William Barak and Tommy McRae.

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February 27 Required Reading: • Morphy, Howard, 1998 Aboriginal Art. London, England: Phaidon Press Limited. “Chapter Ten: Documents of Change The Art of William Barak and Tommy McRae”, pp. 353-368 • Fran Edmonds with Maree Clarke, Sort of Like Reading a Map (2009): 13-15 (“Two Artists: William Barak and Tommy McRae”).

Recommended Reading: • Shirley Wiencke (1984), When the Wattles Bloom Again: The Life and Times of William Barak, Last Chief of the Yarra Yarra Tribe. (Available on reserve in Academic Director’s office).

In Class Media: First Australians Episode 3, “Freedom For Our Lifetime,” (~50 mins), and clips from Culture Victoria website on possum-skin cloak project; kangaroo-teeth jewelry-making; and Joy Murphy on her uncle, William Barak.

Session 5 First Citizen: Albert Namatjira and the Hermannsburg School. March 6 Required Reading: • Howard Morphy, Aboriginal Art, p. 261 - 282 • Brenda L Croft “Albert’s Gift,” in Australian Aboriginal Art (2009): pp. 70-85.

Recommended Reading: • Alison French (2002), ed. Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902- 1959. pp. 1-35. • Philip Jones, “Namatjira: Traveller between two worlds,” in The Heritage of Namatjira: The Watercolourists of Central Australia (1992), J. Hardy, J.V.S. Megaw, and Ruth Megaw, eds. pp 97-136.

In Class Media: Excerpts from Jedda (1955), dir. Charles Chauvel (101 mins); and Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (1989), dir. Tracey Moffatt (17 mins).

***Exhibition Review Due*** Review of a current exhibition of Indigenous Australian art. 4-5 pages; 15% of final grade

Session 6 Papunya: Genesis and Genius? March 13 Required Reading: • Morphy, Aboriginal Art, pp. 282 – 316 • Myers, F. “Truth, Beauty and Pintupi Painting.” Visual Anthropology (1989) • Geoff Bardon, “The Money Belongs to the Ancestors.” In Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius (2000), pp. 199-203

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Recommended Reading: • Myers, F. “Representing culture: The production of discourse(s) for Aboriginal acrylic paintings”, Cultural Anthropology, 6,1 1991, pp 26-62.

In Class Media: Excerpts from Mr Patterns (2004), dir. Catriona McKenzie (55 mins)

Spring Recess No classes scheduled Monday 17- Friday 21, 2014

Session 7 Across the Desert: The Art Producing Communities of Balgo, Utopia, and Yuendumu. March 27 Required Reading: • Dussart, F. “A Body Painting in Translation.” In Morphy and Banks, eds. Rethinking Visual Anthropology. pp. 186- 202. • Biddle, J. Country, Skin, Canvas: The Intercorporeal Art of Kathleen Petyarre. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art. (2003) pp. 61-76.

Recommended Reading: • Benjamin, R. “A new modernist hero”, in Margo Neale (ed.) Emily Kam Kngwarreye: Alhalkere: Paintings from Utopia, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, and Macmillan, Melbourne, 1998, pp 47-54.

Session 8 Northeast, Central, and Western Arnhem Land: Early contact and collections and April 3 distinctive styles, practices and trajectories.

Required Reading: • Luke Taylor (2004) “Fire in the Water: Inspiration from Country: pp. 116-130 Crossing Country: The Alchemy of Western Arnhem Land Art” Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. • Djon Mundine, (2008) “An Aboriginal Soliloquy” in They are Meditating Bark Paintings from the MCA’ Arnott’s Collection. pp. 15-31.

Recommended Reading: • Morphy, Aboriginal Art, pp. 181-218

In Class Media: Dhakiyarr vs. The King (2004), dirs. Tom Murray and Allan Collins (56 mins) and Mimi (2002), dir. Warwick Thornton (13 mins). Clips from Yothu Yindi (“Treaty”); Garma Festival; Chooky Dancers; and Gurrumul Yunupingu

Required Field Trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art with Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs to view the Arnott's Collection of bark paintings

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and the permanent collection.

Session 9 Class Presentations. April 10 We will be meeting at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for our class presentations at normal class time.

Required Field Trip to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Road, Sydney, NSW 2000 ***Class Presentations Due *** 10 minute presentations at the Art Gallery of New South Wales; 15% of final grade.

Session 10 Eulogies in Ochre: Art from the East Kimberley and the Tiwi Islands. April 17 Required Reading: • Henry F Skerritt, (2012) "Strange Relatives: Negotiating the Borderlines in East Kimberley Painting," in Crossing Cultures: The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, Hanover, NH: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, pp. 93-103. • "Pedro Wonaeamirri: In Conversation" in One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2007.pp 132-137. • Marcia Langton, “Hungry Ghosts: Landscape and Memory,” in Bala Starr (ed.), Blood on the Spinifex, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2002, pp. 12-14.

Session 11 Alternative Models: Aboriginal Artists’ Cooperatives and the Indigenous April 24 Avant-Garde.

Required Readings: • Brenda L Croft, 1999. Boomalli: From Little Things Big Things Grow. Painting the Land Story. Luke Taylor, ed. Pp. 95-118. Canberra: National Museum of Australia • Richard Bell, Bell’s Theorem, Aboriginal Art: It’s a White Thing. In Remembering forward: Australian Aboriginal painting since 1960, edited by Kasper Konig, Emi Joyce Evans, Falk Wolf, London 2010.pp 152-161.

Recommended Reading: • Hannah Fink (2007), “Self-Evident: Indigenous Artists and the Photographic Image in One Sun, One Moon: Aboriginal Art in Australia

In Class Media: Colour Theory with Richard Bell, (25mins) Episode 8 Tony Albert. Guest Speaker, Artist Tony Albert

***Biographical Essay of an Indigenous artist Due***

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4-5 pages; 15% of final grade.

Session 12 Indigenizing Museums: Repatriation, Activism and the Politics of Curation. May 1 Required Reading: • Christina Kreps, (2008) “Indigenous Curation, Museums and Intangible Cultural Heritage” in Laurajane Smith and Natsuko Akagawa, eds Intangible Heritage, Routledge. • Lyndel V. Prott (2006), “The Dja Dja Wurrung Bark Etchings Case,” The International Journal of Cultural Property 13(2): 241-246.

Recommended Reading: • Elizabeth Willis (2008), “The Law, Politics, and ‘Historical Wounds:’ The Dja Dja Wurrung Bark Etchings Case in Australia,” The International Journal of Cultural Property 15(1): 49-63.

Session 13 Aboriginal Art on the Market Circulation and Value in/through Auctions, Art May 8 Centers, Galleries, Museums.

Required Readings: • Fred Myers (2002), “Recontextualizations: The Traffic in Culture,” in Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art pp. 342-361. • Benjamin Genocchio (2008), Dollar Dreaming: Inside the Aboriginal Art World. Pp. 1-26; 213-219.

Recommended Reading: • Haidy Geismar 2008, “Alternative Market Values? Interventions into Auctions in Aotearoa/New Zealand,” The Contemporary Pacific 20(2): 291-327.

Required Field Trip to either Bonhams Important Australian Art, Byron Kennedy Hall, Entertainment Quarter, 122 Lang Road, Moore Park NSW 2021 on Sunday May 11. (Time to be confirmed) Or Sotheby’s Auction, Important Australian Art, on Tuesday May 13 at 6.30pm. (Venue to be confirmed)

When the Auction catalogues are printed, we can decide which auction to attend depending on the volume of lots containing Indigenous Art. This excursion will be instead of regularly-scheduled class time at the Academic Centre on May 8.

Session 14 Art: Culture, Visibility, Survival. May 15 Required Reading:

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• Morphy, Aboriginal Art, pp. 317-352. • Mick Dodson (2003), “The End in the Beginning: Re(de)finding Aboriginality,” in Michele Grossman, (ed.), Blacklines: Contemporary Critical Writing by Indigenous Australians (Melbourne University Publishing), 25-42.

Recommended Reading: • Ginsburg, F and F Myers, “A History of Indigenous Futures: Accounting for Indigenous Art and Media.” Aboriginal History, Volume 30 (2006), pp. 95-110.

Homework. Please bring a colored print out, or alternatively, email me at least two days before class of one or two images of your favorite Indigenous works that you have encountered during the semester. This will fuel our final discussions in class and we will co-curate an exhibition in class.

***Research Paper due Monday May 19 at 12pm*** Investigate in depth a topic or issue in Indigenous art—either from the provided list of suggestions, or with consultation and approval from the Instructor. 10-12 pages; 35% of final grade.

Required Co- This course is comprised of in-class seminars and fieldtrips—to best expose students to curricular various nodes in the Indigenous Australian art world. In addition, students will be Activities expected to attend at least one major exhibition of Indigenous Australian art, in addition to any officially-organized fieldtrips; suggestions will be provided by the Instructor in advance of your first assignment. These may include the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Museum of Contemporary Art, community and commercial art galleries (stay tuned for any announcements!)

Your Instructor

Belonging to the Yamatji people of the Inggarda language group, Stephen Gilchrist is a writer and curator who has worked with the Indigenous Australian collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2003-2005), the British Museum, London (2008), the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2005-2010) and the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College (2011-2013). He has a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of Western Australia, Perth and a Master’s in Arts Politics from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Stephen has curated exhibitions in Australia and the United States and has written extensively on Indigenous Art from Australia. He is interested in Indigenous modes of curation as a form of social practice and cultural activism. He is currently working on an exhibition at Harvard Art Museums that will open in 2016.

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