The Postcolonial Virtue of Aboriginal Art from Bathurst and Melville Islands By Eric Venbrux

Venbrux focuses on the Tiwi artists from Bathurst and Melville Islands in northern Australia. He explores the problem of cultural empowerment amongst the Aboriginal community and painters. In 1959, seventeen Tiwi grave posts were displayed in the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. This signified an important turning point of Aboriginal works from ethnographic artifacts to fine art. As Aboriginal art began receiving more recognition, their sense of national identity grew. However, the majority of Australians did not share the same sentiment. They believe that Australian art has begun to automatically mean Aboriginal art.
Non-urban Aboriginal producers or contemporary art are encouraged to created works that express regional variation in order to be better suited for tourist consumers. Venbrux states that the commoditization of art has been a long-standing cultural practice in the Tiwi Islands. Therefore, when commissioned to create a piece of work, artists never want to risk being paid less than they deserve. The Aborigines’ entrance into the international political and art scenes is said to help improve “Australia’s international cultural profile,” whether or not non-Aboriginal Australians like it. However, some think that their economic and political difficulties could put a stain on Australia’s international image.
Venbrux goes on to talk about Charles P. Mountford and his journey and observations in Tiwi society. Mountford commissioned Tiwi artists to paint their myths and legends to provide a visual aid to their oral stories.
The increased interest in Aboriginal art has posed both non-Aboriginal Australians and Aboriginal societies with problems. It has caused many societies such as the Tiwi to assimilate with a broader “Aboriginal” style of painting. However, this assimilation has also allowed them to gain a bigger influence in national matters and in the international scene.