Has the Indigenous art fair rolling stone stopped rolling? It’s a question I ask following a torrent of press releases from DAAF – the pioneering Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair started in 2007 by Apolline Kohen – claiming that DAAF “is the only national event of its kind in the world”, and pointing out that over the past 10 years, it’s enabled $30.5 million dollars to go directly into art centre funds to pay artists, buy paint, canvases, etc, help to pay for art centre managers and contribute to travel costs to get artists to art fairs like DAAF.

But when you compare the funds raised and visitor numbers over the past three years, they fallen rather than risen. $4.38 million was taken this year against a record $4.4m last year and $4.33 in 2022. Intriguingly, that money was spent on 14,700 ‘artworks’ this year, while it covered the cost of just 8,350 artworks in 2022. Could this possibly suggest that there were a hell of a lot of t-shirts and other low value items this year and more substantial canvases in 2022?

Meanwhile, visitor numbers have plunged – from 33,3353 in 2022 to 28,430 this year. Now this is a hybrid figure for both people visiting the fair in Darwin and those buying (or is that just enquiring?) online. Individually, it was 1000 down in Darwin, but a substantial 3,800 online. The latter is significant. For it was DAAF’s genius in rushing online when COVID halted live visitation to Darwin that saved many an art centre’s bacon. And, I note their continual refining of the online process is sufficiently appreciated that the AIATSIS artfair in Canberra – a much smaller affair – credits DAAF’s assistance in creating the online presence that links buyers potentially all over the world with art centre offerings and their websites.

Despite this, online sales this year were well down – just $488,000 compared to $860,000 in the post-COVID 2022 year. Which is a surprise given the enhanced image of First Nations art around the world over the last couple of years. It’s also a surprise given my personal experience of accessing the Fair website and finding much of quality and interest.

Despite this, a generous Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade proudly touted, “While the 2020 pandemic forced a digital pivot for the art fair, it massively boosted their global engagement and audience. This set DAAF on a path of establishing a more all-encompassing international strategy, which has included major research into global markets, as well as the development of an Indigenous Arts Hub that aims to connect artists with global galleries, ensuring proceeds benefit the Indigenous communities DAAF serves”.

This Indigenous Arts Hub would seem to be what the DAAF website predicts will be “A national platform that will provide audiences with even more opportunity to have deeper experiences with artists online. The platform will have a rich public program that will accompany an annual roster of exhibitions from vetted Art Centres, commercial galleries, and institutions across Australia and beyond. “This is going to be your starting point,” says DAAF CEO Claire Summers. “It’s going to be the place that people will come to, to access and learn about Australian First Nations art globally. It will be the place they come to connect with the artists, learn about ethical purchasing, and hopefully start building their collections!”.

Oddly, those words could have been used by the founders of Aboriginal Art Directory (this website) in 2007!

Arguably, though, the physical appeal of the Darwin event with 74 art centres – often with their artists in attendance – offers an experience that can’t be equalled online. By comparison, the so-called National Indigenous Art Fair in Sydney offered only 22 art centres attending this year; AIATSIS fair in Canberra managed 39 art centres in 2022 and is still to come in 2024 – running from 6th to 15th December online; while CIAF in Cairns is deliberately restricted to Queensland art centres only, and offered just 700 artworks this year. The Revealed Art Market in Perth is also a State-only event, packing all 20 of WA’s art centres in.

Finally, there’s the Southeast Aboriginal Arts Market in Sydney this weekend (23/24 November), curated by Wiradjuri artist Jonathan Jones. No art centres, but 33 independent artists and collectives, showcasing thousands of traditional and contemporary artworks from NSW, ACT, Victoria, the Murray–Darling basin, and Tasmania, with 100% of proceeds going directly to the artists.

Despite the numbers suggesting stasis at DAAF, it still received the NT’s top Festivals and Events award at the Brolga Tourism Awards this year. But then its parameters have expanded, particularly into fashion, where Country to Couture and the National Indigenous Fashion Awards are as prominent as the Fair itself.

And while we’re in Darwin notionally, its Museum & Art Gallery has put out a call for entries of the finest quality art for the 2025 Telstra NATSIA Awards. Entries close on March 2, 2025.