Protecting Indigenous Art

There is the country non-Indigenous people can see, and then there is the country Indigenous people see that the rest of us can barely comprehend, but glimpse through the vivid colours, shapes and imagery of their artworks, and their visual recounting of ancient stories and settings.

The unauthorised use of Indigenous artworks is a global industry that damages cultural integrity and harms the livelihoods of artists and their communities. While the western idea of private or individual ownership can be at significant odds with tenets of Indigenous ownership and control, copyright remains one of the primary tools available to protect Indigenous visual artists from fakes, cultural threat and appropriation. In Protecting Indigenous Art, leading intellectual property barrister Colin Golvan provides a privileged insight into how legal protection of Indigenous art offers unique opportunities to empower Indigenous artists and their communities. Golvan gives a first-hand account of landmark legal campaigns such as the unauthorised reproduction of prominent Bulun Bulun artworks on T-shirts, the seminal carpets case, the campaign to recover the copyright of Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira and the extraordinary story of the Aboriginal flag. Altogether, we get an understanding of the importance of protection for this much-loved form of artistic and cultural expression.

PRAISE

'It reflects Colin's deep and abiding belief that copyright law, for all its drawbacks, remains a potent vehicle for the protection of Aboriginal artists and their communities.'
Professor Sam Ricketson, Melbourne Law School

'This fascinating account of the struggles to protect Indigenous art features trenchant institutional analyses and compelling human stories.'
Professor Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law

'Protecting Indigenous Art is essential reading for anyone interested in the intersection of art, law and Indigenous rights as it outlines groundbreaking Aboriginal art copyright cases.'
Dr Terri Janke, Solicitor Director Terri Janke & Co