Passion, Power, Politics: Does Inequality exist for New South Wales Aboriginal Women Artists?

Abstract

The motivation for creating this thesis was primarily to research and understand if inequality existed for Aboriginal women artists from the state of New South Wales. I produced a documentary where I interviewed six Aboriginal language group women who created art in the state based boundaries of New South Wales.I also conducted a research component around the acquisition of art by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I collected a lot of data around this and was not surprised to find that there was minimal collection of any women artists from New South Wales. My line of inquiry has established a clear foundation based on facts that Aboriginal women artists are treated in an unfair manner by the majority of curators in the Aboriginal area and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.I have also created a chapter called ‘The Journey' that outlines my life from a young Aboriginal girl to a mature woman artist and a chapter titled 'Artistic practice' that illustrates my career spanning over thirty years.I have created a case study on Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative that provides an extensive profile of the politics and power struggles of this Aboriginal Co-operative.