Cultural Copy: Visual Conversations on Indigenous Art and Cultural Appropriation

July 7, 2004 – September 12, 2004

Works by contemporary indigenous artists from North America and Australia reflected on various forms of appropriation, from dispossession of land to artistic misappropriation. The exhibition—which included eight works by artists from Australia and ten by Native American artists from the United States and Canada—included paintings, mixed media, photographs, digital prints, sculpture, and installations. Though thousands of miles separate the indigenous cultures of Australia and North America, the works address common issues of cultural appropriation that impact both indigenous populations.

Exhibition in Depth

In the wake of increasing forms of commercialization of art and ideas, indigenous peoples have begun to re-appropriate the symbols, motifs, and values that define what it means to be “Native” in a non-Native world. In Cultural Copy: Visual Conversations on Indigenous Art and Cultural Appropriation works by contemporary artists from Native North America and Indigenous Australia reflect on various forms of appropriation, from dispossession of land to artistic misappropriation and creative collaborations.

Cultural Copy features the works of Indigenous Australian artists and Native American artists from the United States and Canada, and includes paintings, mixed media, photographs, digital prints, sculpture, and installations.

Indigenous Australian artists ar Richard Bell, Gordon Syron, Kathleen Petyarre and Ray Beamish, Jennifer Herd, Fiona Foley, Vernon Ah Kee, Michael Eather and Michael Nelson Jagamarra, and Jennifer Fraser.

Native North American artists include Frank La Pena, Arthur Amiotte, Anthony White, Colleen Cutschall, Nora Naranjo-Morse, Greg Hill, Juane Quick-to-See Smith, Roger Crait, and Sam Toonoo.

Though thousands of miles separate indigenous artists of Australia and Native North America, the works presented in this exhibit explore common themes of cultural appropriation across cultural and national boundaries.

Press Release

Cultural Copy: Visual Conversations on Indigenous Art and Cultural Appropriation

Exhibition Credits

This exhibition was presented at the Fowler Museum in conjunction with a conference at UCLA entitled ‘Global Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations’ (July 6-9, 2004). The exhibition was organized BorderZone Arts, Inc. in co-sponsorship with Common Ground Conferences of Melbourne, Australia and the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.