Towards Collaboration: Partnership Between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians in Art from 1970 to the Present

The situation of Indigenous people in Australian society is marked by the problematic historical context of colonization, racial and constitutional discrimination, as well as exploitation. I examine three specific cases of collaboration to explain how collaborative efforts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians complicate interpretations of Indigenous Australian art, how the artistic pieces often subvert the assumed dichotomy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous identities within a contemporary Australian context, as well as how the notion of artistic authority influences the nature of cross-cultural collaborations. In chapter one, I discuss the collaborative efforts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists in the making of the Weaving the Murray exhibition (2002), and how cross-cultural collaboration during the development of the exhibition seems to have underlined rather than overcome the boundaries of cultural understanding. In chapter two I address the artistic relationships between Tim Johnson (b. 1947) and Western Desert artists Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (c. 1932), Tim Leura Tjapaltjari (c. 1929-1984), Michael Nelson Jagamara (c. 1949), and Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula (c. 1942) to demonstrate why these are unusual and noteworthy cross-cultural interactions in a context that is shaped by Australia’s tumultuous history of colonization, dispossession, displacement, violence, and degradation. In the final chapter I focus on the collaboration between Latvian-Australian artist Imants Tillers (b. 1950) and Michael Nelson Jagamara to explore how notions of artistic authority inform their interactions and their artwork.

Collaboration is a common practice in traditional Indigenous Australian societies, especially in art making and ceremonial practices. Collaboration in art internationally provided artists the opportunity to experiment and to move outside cultural boundaries. The examples of collaborative practice that I consider in the following chapters inevitably involve Indigenous practices and collaborative initiatives that are bound up with current developments (including collaboration) in contemporary art. Taking these factors into consideration, I explore the political, ethical, social, and artistic implications of collaborative undertakings between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.