Aboriginal Art, Identity and Appropriation.

Keller, Christiane

Aboriginal Art, Identity and Appropriation Elizabeth Burns Coleman Ashgate, Aldershot, UK and Burlington VT, 2005, xviii+188pp ISBN 0754644030

It is a great pleasure to review this book because it provides original answers to many questions and problems that arise when we talk about appropriation, authenticity and copyrights with regard to Aboriginal art. At the core of Coleman's book is the call of many Aboriginal artists for stronger copyright laws to protect their art. They claim that collective ownership, the maintenance of work in perpetuity and the protection of whole stories, not only single expressions of them, should be included in such stronger copyright laws. Art is an integral part of their identity and continued existence. Its appropriation therefore amounts to the appropriation of identity and can lead to the destruction of their culture and communities.

Summarising this claim on page 12, Coleman introduces the reader to a broad range of moral and legal issues that arise when Aboriginal artists make such claims about their art and its protection. Coleman scrutinises what we understand as appropriation of art and consequentially of identity, and in which forms such appropriation appears. She discusses the relationship between culture and identity and introduces the legal and moral elements of cultural appropriation. According to Coleman, the core of the problem lies in the relationship between culture and the community that claims it. Where are the boundaries of a social group? Can such a group own culture and what rights can be claimed from such ownership? Are artworks or performances created and staged by people outside the respective culture inauthentic? Coleman investigates these and other arguments in light of Aboriginal claims for ownership of specific cultural forms that are considered inherent in Aboriginal art and form an integral part of Aboriginal identity.

Coleman finds that current copyright legislation is not appropriate to provide the required protection of Aboriginal artworks. While copyright protects only original works with concepts of genius and originality at its nexus, Aboriginal artists find traditional elements such as the inherited stories and designs of most value for protection. Coleman establishes that the rationale for copyright (economic right to reproduction, property right for the creator) does not correspond with the rationale provided for the claims to protect their art (that appropriation of art is appropriation of identity, without protection their culture will be destroyed).

Coleman develops a theoretical framework that helps to explain the relationship between art, identity, and community: the concept that Aboriginal ceremonial designs have the same ontological structure as insignia, like coats of arms. Designs in ceremonial Aboriginal art signify property in land and social and religious relationships. They are owned by collective entities. Similarly, coats of arms are standard designs that are owned collectively, are handed down from generation to generation and are used to show property in land and social relationships. Coats of arms are a form of insignia and insignia are protected under law. To develop the relationship between images and identity further Coleman analyses different kinds of meaning attributed to insignia and concludes that designs in Aboriginal art are used in a similar way.

Coleman uses the examples of recent art fraud scandals and the ensuing authenticity debates to make the point that what Aboriginal people see or do not see as authentic stands in direct contrast to Western conceptions of authenticity. She demonstrates that use of her concept of Aboriginal art as a form of insignia would support the Aboriginal view in this debate: when paintings in question follow the rules for correctness and the artist has the authority to produce the design the painting is authentic. Because of the relationship between insignia and collective entities, Coleman argues that appropriation of Aboriginal art can potentially lead to the destruction of Aboriginal communities. Although not directly entering the debate as to whether there is a moral or legal obligation to maintain cultures or cultural groups, she argues for the protection of Aboriginal art as insignia. She makes an even bigger claim. She demonstrates that insignia are a necessary condition for the existence of collective entities. To recognise Aboriginal art as insignia would therefore mean to recognise Aboriginal sovereignty and control over how it should be used and in which context it should appear. In failing to do so, Coleman states, we reinforce inequalities in Australian society based on race that began with the declaration of Australia as 'terra nullius'.

Coleman's analysis highlights areas of ambiguity in copyright law and shortcomings in our understanding of intellectual property law. She argues that copyright law in its current form is not the right medium for the protection of Aboriginal art. Because copyright legislation distinguishes between works based on their medium rather than on their ontological structure, for Aboriginal art to be considered appropriately would require a reconceptualisation of the current legislation. To regard ownership of insignia in the same way as ownership of a work of performance and recognise artists' interpretations of insignia as 'performance' rather than in respect to copyright law might offer a solution. Paintings and performances have different ontological structures and the latter appears to be more fitting to Aboriginal art. In recognising the dilemma between already too strong copyright laws and the freedom of expression Coleman claims that we need the protection of insignia as they are essential for the maintenance of our society. Such protection is not necessarily conflicting with freedom of expression but would rather regulate the way those expressions could be authentically used by others, a concept well suited for Aboriginal art.

Coleman has a compelling way of introducing examples drawn from everyday experiences, ethnographic research, art history, philosophy or law cases. She uses these examples throughout to highlight her main point. Her book is well researched and the literature covers a lot of ground across several disciplines. Most of her ethnographic examples for Aboriginal art are taken from Howard Morphy's Ancestral Connection, but she also tackles other anthropological issues including a definition of culture or the 'clan debate' between Morphy and Ian Keen. Her discussion in respect to aspects of Indigenous art and culture is not only restricted to the Australian context but engages with literature on similar issues in New Zealand, Canada and North America.

This book develops the argument to employ the concept of insignia for the protection of Aboriginal art through the jungle of complexities that arise on anthropological, moral, legal and philosophical grounds. Coleman follows her main argument along ever more diverging paths to the intricacies of minute details. It is, ironically, this thorough and rigorous investigation which at times sidetracks the reader. For someone not used to philosophical texts Coleman's book does not make an easy read. Within the existing literature Coleman's thesis that Aboriginal art is insignia is very original and a valuable contribution to the debate on matters of Aboriginal art, identity and appropriation.

REFERENCE

Morphy, Howard 1991 Ancestral Connections" Art and an Aboriginal system of knowledge, University of Chicago Press.

Reviewed by Dr Christiane Keller, independent scholar, Canberra