Urban Representations: Cultural expression, identity and politics Urban Representations: Cultural expression, identity and politics Edited by Sylvia Kleinert and Grace Koch Developed from papers presented in the Representation and Cultural Expression stream at the 2009 AIATSIS National Indigenous Studies Conference ‘Perspectives on Urban Life: Connections and reconnections’ First published in 2012 by AIATSIS Research Publications © Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2012 © in individual chapters is held by the authors, 2012 All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act), no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Act also allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this publication, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied or distributed digitally by any educational institution for its educational purposes, provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) GPO Box 553, Canberra ACT 2601 Phone: (61 2) 6246 1111 Fax: (61 2) 6261 4285 Email: [email protected] Web: www.aiatsis.gov.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Title: Urban representations [electronic resource] : cultural expression, identity, and politics : developed from papers presented in the Representation Stream at the AIATSIS 2009 National Indigenous Studies Conference ‘Perceptions of Urban Life : Connections and Reconnections’ / edited by Sylvia Kleinert and Grace Koch. ISBN: 9781922102003 (ebook : pdf) Subjects: City and town life—Australia. Cities and towns—Australia—Social aspects. Aboriginal Australians. Torres Strait Islanders. Other Authors/Contributors: Kleinert, Sylvia. Koch, Grace. Dewey Number: 307.760994 Cover design by Inprint Pty Ltd Contents Contributors vii Introduction 1 Sylvia Kleinert and Grace Koch Chapter 1 21 Making murals, revealing histories: Murals as an assertion of Aboriginality in Melbourne’s inner north Fran Edmonds Chapter 2 49 Making a mark: Negotiations in the sale of Aboriginal art Barbara Ashford Chapter 3 63 Possum skin cloaks as a vehicle for healing in Aboriginal communities in the south-east of Australia Vicki Couzens and Lee Darroch Chapter 4 69 Beyond the didjeridu: The representation of Aboriginality in the music of a selection of Australian fi lms (1971 to 2002) Anthony Linden Jones Chapter 5 91 Neither dots nor bark: Positioning the urban artist Suzanne Spunner Chapter 6 101 Brisbane’s Annual Sports and Cultural Festival: Connecting with community and culture through festivals Lisa Ruhanen and Michelle Whitford Published by AIATSIS Research Publications v Contributors Barbara Ashford is a social anthropologist whose main interests are economic anthropology and the social creation of value. Barbara gained her PhD in Anthropology in 2009 at The University of Queensland after submitting her study of an Aboriginal art dealership situated in Brisbane. She has also worked extensively in education as a teacher. Vicki Couzens is a Keerray Wurrong woman from the Western district of Victoria. She has a partner, fi ve daughters and seven grandchildren. In late 1999 she returned to her birthplace, her home Country — Warrnambool — after living in East Gippsland for the previous ten years. Art has been an integral part of her life, but until about 15 years ago she was more of a spectator than a participant. Although during her teens and early 20s she made sporadic ventures into the arts, it wasn’t until her early 30s that she began working seriously exhibiting and performing. Her family has a strong connection to the arts. Her grandfather, Nicholas Couzens, was an ex ceptional artist, painting portraits, nudes and landscapes. Vicki believes he worked primarily in oils in the early to mid-1900s in and around the Port Campbell – Peterborough area. Uncle Stan Couzens became well known in his later years, taking up painting after his retirement. Aunty Zelda was a basket weaver extraordinaire. Several cousins and their children are also practising artists. Vicki’s own children have all participated in arts programs/festivals and are artists in their own right, and she fi nds it interesting and exciting having so many of the family working in the arts. In 2008 a collective exhibition, Ngathook mangoorroo watanoo…(‘I come from…’): The Couzens Family Exhibition, was held at Melbourne Museum. Lee Darroch is a proud Yorta Yorta, Mutti Mutti and Boon Wurrung woman. She has lived on Gragin (Raymond Island) with her partner, David, and two children, Ben and Zenzi, for the past 25 years. Lee runs her own arts business, Gurranyin Arts, and practises across a wide variety of art media, including basket weaving, possum skin cloak making, jewellery making, pastel drawings and painting. She is the part- time Program Coordinator for Banmirra Arts, an Aboriginal not-for-profi t arts organisation. Lee has worked in community arts and community arts education as the Koori Arts Worker for East Gippsland Aboriginal Arts Corporation part-time for Published by AIATSIS Research Publications vii Urban Representations: Cultural expression, identity and politics the past ten years. She was a Director for Riverbark Arts Pty Ltd, a Koori arts and cultural company that she runs together with Treahna Hamm and Vicki Couzens. The three women, together with Amanda Reynolds, have written a book about possum skin cloaks entitled Wrapped in a Possum Skin Cloak: The Tooloyn Koortakay Collection in the National Museum of Australia. Lee’s arts practice is informed by a strong philosophy of recreating and revitalising traditional arts practices. She has exhibited widely across Australia, Samoa, Japan, Italy and Greece. Lee’s artwork can be found in many of the major public collections, including National Gallery of Australia, National Museum of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Museum, Aboriginal Affairs Victoria and Koorie Heritage Trust. Fran Edmonds received her PhD from The University of Melbourne in 2008. This was an exploration of the history of south-east Australian Aboriginal art and its connection to identity and wellbeing. She is currently a research fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne, where she is involved in researching the creative capacity of digital technology to support contemporary Aboriginal culture. Sylvia Kleinert is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Australian National University. Until 2010 she was Associate Professor of Australian Indigenous Art at Charles Darwin University. During 1997–2003 she held an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Research Fellowship in the Centre for Cross Cultural Research at the Australian National University. Working across art history and anthropology, her research addresses questions related to Indigenous art and culture. She has published both nationally and internationally on the Hermannsburg School, Aboriginal art in south-eastern Australia, Indigenous prison art, cultural tourism and cultural heritage. She is co-editor (with Margo Neale) of the major reference work The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture (2000). Other edited publications include as Coordinating Editor (with Djon Mundine and David McNeill), Aboriginal Art in the Public Eye, Art Monthly supplement 1992/3; Symbolic Souvenirs, special issue of Tourism, Culture and Communication, volumes 3/4, 1999/2000; editor (with Nicole Bearman and Ian Were), Louise Hamby and Diana Young, Art on a String (2003); and editor, Crossing Cultures: Politics, identity and culture (2006). Grace Koch has a special interest in fi lm, as one of her relatives was a fi lm star in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s. She has a background in ethnomusicology and audiovisual archiving, and has published both nationally and internationally in those fi elds. In 2008 The Hon. Peter Garrett appointed her to the inaugural Board of the National Film and Sound Archive. She has worked at AIATSIS for more than 30 years in the Audiovisual Archives, the Library and, presently, as Native Title Research and Access Offi cer. She has been a consultant with the Central Land Council for fi ve land viii Published by AIATSIS Research Publications Contributors claims under both the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth) and the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). Her most recent research has centred on how Federal Court judges and Aboriginal Land Commissioners have recognised the importance of song and ceremony as evidence in land claims. Anthony Linden Jones is a musicologist, performer, composer of fi lm scores and concert music, and Music Director of a community a cappella choir. He teaches music at the Eora Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Sydney and at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is a current PhD student at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, researching the representation of Aboriginality in Australian fi lm music. In 2011 he held a Scholars and Artists in Residence fellowship with the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra. Dr Lisa Ruhanen is a Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Coursework Program