On Aboriginal Representation In The Gallery

In recognizing the established intellectual and institutional authority of Aboriginal artists, curators, and academics working in cultural institutions and universities, this volume serves as an important primer on key questions and issues accompanying the changing representational practices of the community cultural center, the public art gallery and the anthropological museum.

This book provides a glimpse of thirteenth-century life and death in a southern Ontario Iroquoian community. The renovation of a Toronto soccer field in 1997 resulted in the accidental discovery of an Iroquoian ossuary--a large pit containing the remains of at least 87 people. The pit was excavated and recorded, and the remains reburied in accordance with the wishes of the Six Nations Council of Oshweken. Scientific analyses of the bones resulted in a remarkably detailed demographic profile of the Moatfield people, along with indicators of their health and diet. The book reports these findings and includes a complete database of maps and profiles on an accompanying CD-ROM. Ronald F. Williamson is president of Archaeological Services Inc., Toronto. Susan Pfeiffer is professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto.

"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria" is a major overview of the work of Indigenous artists of the past 130 years. Entries on more than 100 works in the NGV¿s collection reveal the influence of early Indigenous objects on contemporary dialogues; explain systems of representation in Indigenous art; and reveal the ways artists have responded to change and have incorporated new aesthetic principles and artistic concepts, images and imaginaries over time. Through visual analysis, readers gain an understanding of preoccupations with place, ceremony, identity and race in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. This beautifully illustrated publication identifies similarities in artistic perception across time and place, and disrupts prevailing binaries of centre and periphery, traditional and contemporary, and urban and non-urban modes of representation and identification.

This book provides a glimpse of thirteenth-century life and death in a southern Ontario Iroquoian community. The renovation of a Toronto soccer field in 1997 resulted in the accidental discovery of an Iroquoian ossuary--a large pit containing the remains of at least 87 people. The pit was excavated and recorded, and the remains reburied in accordance with the wishes of the Six Nations Council of Oshweken. Scientific analyses of the bones resulted in a remarkably detailed demographic profile of the Moatfield people, along with indicators of their health and diet. The book reports these findings and includes a complete database of maps and profiles on an accompanying CD-ROM. Ronald F. Williamson is president of Archaeological Services Inc., Toronto. Susan Pfeiffer is professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto.

Despite the common belief that art galleries will naturally become more gender equitable over time, the fact is that many art institutions in Canada have become even less so over the last decade, with female artists making up less than 25 per cent of the contemporary exhibitions of several major galleries. In the first large-scale overview of gender diversity in Canadian art exhibitions, Anne Dymond makes a persuasive plea for more consciously equitable curating. Drawing on data from nearly one hundred institutions, Diversity Counts reveals that while some galleries are relatively equitable, many continue to marginalize female and racialized artists. The book pursues an interdisciplinary approach, considering the art world's resistance to numeric data, discourses on representation and identity, changing conceptualizations of institutional responsibility over time, and different ways particular institutions manage inclusion and exclusion. A thoughtful examination of the duty of public galleries to represent underserved communities, Dymond's study bravely navigates the unspoken criteria for acceptance in the curatorial world. Demonstrating how important hard data is for inclusivity, Diversity Counts is a timely analysis that brings the art world up to date on progressive movements for social transformation.

Aboriginal art collections : highlights from Australia's public museums and galleries is a survey of the indigenous collections of fourteen public museums and galleries in Australia.

Queen's Land Blak Portraiture explores ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been portrayed by Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists since white settlement in Queensland in the 1830s.Focussing on contemporary portraits, the exhibition explores how prevailing social, political, economic and cultural conditions, past and present, have shaped perceptions and representations of Indigenous Queenslanders. The works selected for the exhibition also reflect government policies that shaped public attitudes and the lives of Indigenous peoples in Queensland. Historical portraits include archival photographs from early colonial times and from extensive mission settlement which in turn led to segregation, the control of Aboriginal peoples' movements, and the removal of children from parents. The effects of these are evident in the virtual lack of representation of Indigenous peoples in the mid-twentieth century. It was not until 1967 that Indigenous Australians were counted in the national census.While their cultures and histories of contact with white settlers are very different, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples share a similar understanding of portraiture and identity which does not conform to a Western art construct of a vertical image or representation of a person. Rather, a person's image can be portrayed through a cultural totem, a body marking, a footprint or handprint, a particular place, person's name, or a ritual. Finally, the word blak is a 1990s construct. Removing the small 'c' from 'black' started as a play on words attributed to activist artist Destiny Deacon. Today, it is used to convey notions of empowerment and self-determination.

In this highly original study, Vanessa Russ examines the gradual invention of Aboriginal art within the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This process occurred as the social histories of Australia expanded and recognised Aboriginal people, through wars and political shifts, and as international organisations began placing pressure on nation states to expand, diversify, and respect multicultural perspectives. This book explores a state art institution as a case study to consider these complex narratives through a single history of Aboriginal art from early colonisation until today. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, museum studies, and Indigenous studies.