Australian Aboriginal Art: A Reading Group

Artist Talk by David Garneau
Visiting Canadian Indigenous Métis artist & curator

Apropos Appropriate Appropriations (Art after the Apology)

Koorie Heritage Trust, Tuesday, 25 May 2010, 3- 5pm
Followed by discussion & coffee. RSVP: reception@koorieheritagetrust.com
295 King Street, Corner Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

Why do ˜high-art’ White artists occasionally rip-off Indigenous art, and ˜high-art’ Indigenous artists continuously rip-off Western culture? Is dominant culture appropriation of Indigenous art going to continue the project of unconscious colonialism and necessitate Aboriginal Reactionism, or can it evolve into a métissage”a critical play of ideas and influences in a shared, playful but respectful space that leads to post-ironic, constructive production?

With discussion and response by Michelle Evans, PhD scholar at the Melbourne Business School and founding Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at the University of Melbourne.

David Garneau is Associate Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. His practice includes painting, drawing, curation and critical writing. His solo exhibition, Cowboys and Indians (and Métis?), toured Canada (2003-7) and Road Kill is currently touring Saskatchewan. His work often engages issues of nature, history, masculinity and Aboriginal identity. His art works are in the collections of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, The Canadian Parliament, Indian and Inuit Art Centre, the Glenbow Museum, the Mackenzie Art Gallery and many other public and private collections. Garneau has curated several large group exhibitions: The End of the World (as we know it); Picture Windows: New Abstraction; Transcendent Squares; Sophisticated Folk; Contested Histories; Making it Like a Man!, Graphic Visions and TEXTiles. Garneau has written numerous catalogue essays and reviews and was a co-founder and co-editor of Artichoke and Cameo magazines. He is currently exploring the Carlton Trail and road kill as landscape subjects, and is working on curatorial projects in Australia.