Introduction

Like many cultural movements of consequence, what is now readily identified as contemporary Australian Aboriginal art was shaped from its beginnings – more than 30 years ago in the Central Desert of Australia – by unprecedented meetings of agents acting from quite distinct cultural assumptions, necessities, and expectations of the other. Like the continuing interest in traditional and contemporary art from Africa, it has proved exceptional in its intensity, spread, and longevity. Aboriginal art from the remote communities maintains a distinct otherness from the development of Western modernist art. As a cultural product it originates from situations – in material actuality and spiritual inspiration – as distant from the nodes of international contemporary art as can be imagined. Yet it is, at the same time, uncannily familiar to those versed in the protocols of abstract art. In the contemporary conditions of decolonization and globalization, it is an instance of hybridity of artistic exchange that is at once unique and typical of its time.

Value clashes and public controversy have marked every stage of its development as an art movement. Yet, despite the racism that laces Australian life like an insidious poison, there is a widespread acceptance of this art by the broader community as a proud and positive contribution to the national culture. Notwithstanding the regularly expressed doubts of white professionals, nothing seems to be able to halt its accelerating powers of aesthetic self-replenishment or the growth of a deep and diverse market for its products.