Shinju Matsuri art award: Judge Perpetua Durack Clancy refuses to award Indigenous artists

Updated

There has been an angry backlash after the judge of an Indigenous art prize in Broome decided none of the entries were worthy of winning the prize.

Local Aboriginal artists are particularly offended because the judge - Perpetua Durack Clancy - is the daughter of Elizabeth Durack, who sold her work under the guise of a fictional male Aboriginal artist in a major art controversy in the 1990s.

At least three non-Indigenous artists have removed their works from the exhibition in protest.

Artist Michael Torres, who was at the Shinju Matsuri Art Award ceremony, said it was insulting.

"When she got up and said the works weren't deemed good enough, you could have heard a pin drop, everyone was just gobsmacked," he said.

"It's so insulting to the artists there, where you've got an old non-Indigenous lady saying these Indigenous art works are not worthy of being awarded any prize."

Shinju Matsuri board member Chris Maher said the decision caught the organisers by surprise.

"We understand that there's a lot of unrest and hurt in the community about that decision and I certainly feel for those artists," he said.

"It was certainly not flagged to anybody on the committee that that was about to happen so we were all caught off guard and surprised, so I certainly understand the level of feeling in our community at the moment."

It's so insulting to the artists there, where you've got an old non-Indigenous lady saying these Indigenous art works are not worthy of being awarded any prize. Michael Torres, Aboriginal artist

There were four artworks entered in the Indigenous category.

After the ceremony, Ms Durack Clancy defended the decision.

"I looked at them carefully, and I felt I'd seen very similar ones before," she said.

"There was absolutely nothing fresh or original.

"There's no rules to say that you have to award in a certain category so I don't see why [you would] when the quality just isn't there."

Ms Durack Clancy said it was with "great regret it was not possible to award a first prize".

"I care greatly about art and of course I am upset to have upset other people, it was the last and least of my intentions," she said.

"Over the years there's been magnificent Aboriginal art created and everyone is immensely proud of that.

"I though Broome might have been sophisticated enough to cope with some direct comment."

Ms Durack Clancy said despite the backlash, she was glad it had sparked some debate.

"It's time that there is open debate and discussion about quality and ideas and innovation and so on, so to this extent I welcome what's happened even though it's taken a bit of a toll already."

Organising committee upholds judge's decision

The organising committee upheld Ms Durack Clancy's decision not to award a prize and the prize money will be rolled over to next year.

Mr Maher said the judging rules will also be reconsidered before next year's festival.

"We still want to have independent judges but I think we'll be looking at ensuring there's always at least two judges going into the future, two qualified judges who aren't from Broome," he said.

Currently they allow for a judge to not award a prize, but critics of the decision said the Shinju Matsuri Art Award should be about encouraging local artists rather than enforcing the standards of a professional competition.

Local artist Paul Boon said the issue showed there was still work to be done on engaging with Indigenous artists.

"It's actually brought up a lot of issues for the art prize and how we engage Indigenous people in that process and it's actually already spinning off some positives, which is something you have to make of these situations," he said.

"But it certainly highlighted that there's still a level of thinking that we've got to try to evolve and try to move forward with."

Ms Durack Clancy is no stranger to controversy within the art scene.

In the 1990s she ran the Durack Fine Art Gallery in Broome, which sold the dot-style paintings by an artist called Eddie Burrup.

It later emerged Burrup was in fact a pseudonym for her mother, Elizabeth Durack.

She was a renowned artist in her own right and in 1996 was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her service to art and literature.

Mrs Durack described Burrup as her artistic "alter ego".

Paintings sold under the fictional name were shortlisted in several Aboriginal art prizes before the deception was discovered in 1997.

Elizabeth Durack defended her actions and continued painting as 'Eddie Burrup' until her death aged 84 in 2000.

Topics: painting, indigenous-culture, broome-6725, wa

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