Australian decoloniality

I have long wanted to write down a little thought that describes the policy of art museums, especially state and those that have the name of the state in their names (National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, etc.).

I once mentioned that everything is fine in Australia with decolonial policy and recognition of the guilt of coloniser ancestors. Before each event, large or small, the organiser will say that he recognises the past mistakes of the "whites" and respects the land of the First Nations. The flag of the State of Australia hangs, and the black-red-yellow flag of the First Nations is necessarily nearby. The address of any state institution indicates not only the street and postal code but also the Aboriginal name of the land. And so on, etc.

First Nations Flag

And here I want to quote the decolonial texts of Madina Tlostanova or Alexander Etkind, which many times focus on the lack of acceptance of Russia's mistakes before the former colonies, but I will not. I'll just leave the links so you can compare (and breathe). The topic of the colonial past (I really want to believe that it is the past) and its overcoming is painful, first of all for me. But I'm glad I'm watching here.

So, what do museums do? In their collections, there are thousands of works of Europeans, which in the XIX-early XX centuries found themselves on the continent and were part of the imposition of "white culture" on indigenous people - cruel and provocative. There are works, and it seems to be inappropriate to be proud of them - in response to this, you will almost definitely receive reminders of the extermination of most of the Indigenous people.

Therefore, classical European works will occupy 10-15% of the exhibition area of any institution. And most likely it will be a couple of halls with trellis hanging, without any emphasis on names.

The main expositions are traditional works of indigenous people. And those created in the last decade, since for another 15-20 years no one was engaged in the collection and storage of works. And a large amount of modern art, where the labels necessarily indicate the country of origin of the artist and when he moved to Australia.

Sometimes it even seems that conditionally "white" works of the colonial past are exhibited only for "pure-blooded" descendants who have long been retired and often spend time looking at the art they understand.

NGV, 2022