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Soaring value of aboriginal art fuels controversy CANBERRA, Nov 27: Once almost solely the domain of tourists, Australian aboriginal art has now caught the attention .....more Israeli barrier cuts into Palestinian olive harvest JAYYOUS, WEST BANK, Nov 27: "My olives are withering on their branches because the Israelis won’t let me through this fence," said ...more China welcomes ceasefire between India and Pakistan BEIJING, Nov 27: China today lauded India for responding ‘actively’ and ‘positively’ to Pakistan’s ceasefire proposal and hoped the two south Asian .....more Vasundhara
rules out BIKANER, Nov 27: BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Vasundhara Raje today ruled out a hung verdict in Rajasthan in ......more |
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Petite woman wins NEW YORK, Nov 27: Petite former burger King manager Sonya Thomas wolfed down 7-3/4 pounds of holiday food in 12 minutes to defeat a pair of.....more Pakistani
brothers SYDNEY, Nov 27: Four Pakistani immigrant brothers face life sentences in Australia after they were convicted today ....more US forces seek cold, slimmer Saddam on run TIKRIT, IRAQ, Nov 27: US troops hunting Saddam Hussein believe he is still in Iraq,....more New US-backed Iraq resolution may not materialise: Diplomats UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27: A new Security Council resolution endorsing the timetable for the US-led ...more |
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Soaring value of aboriginal art fuels controversy CANBERRA, Nov 27: Once almost solely the domain of tourists, Australian aboriginal art has now caught the attention of the international art world — as well as of opportunists hoping to profit from a growing demand. The growth in status and value of aboriginal art in recent years has prompted a new breed of fraudsters to try and capitalise on the popularity of the distinctive paintings that depict stories of one of the world’s oldest races. Mass reproduction of aboriginal art and a series of high-profile fraud scandals have sparked a campaign by Australia’s indigenous community to protect its art, even accusing Britain’s Prince Harry of "stealing" aboriginal concepts. "Where there’s the money there’s the fakers," said Tim Klingender, Aboriginal Art Director at Sotheby’s auction house. Australia’s key aboriginal group, the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), estimates the surge in popularity has made the indigenous arts industry worth around a 200 million dollars annually and it is growing at 10 percent a year. "It’s a field where people don’t have an enormous amount of expertise so some of the unscrupulous agents can sell third quality work dressed up as first-rate work," Klingender said. Australian art dealer John Douglas O’Loughlin was the first person to be convicted of aboriginal art fraud when he pleaded guilty in 1999 to selling paintings he claimed were the work of renowned aboriginal artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. It was reported at the time that an Australian Court heard the paintings — worth more than a 10,000 — had been signed by Tjapaltjarri, but the artist said he was drunk and intimidated by O’Loughlin at the time. The dealer denied the artist’s claims. At a Sotheby’s auction in Sydney in July this year, 506 pieces of aboriginal art — the largest collection ever assembled for sale —sold for more than a 7.5 million dollars. More than half the money came from foreign collectors and investors. "It has taken a while to explode...But it shows the market has reached a certain maturity," said Petra Campbell, managing director of the annual Sydney aboriginal and oceanic art fair. But while indigenous work now basks in the international spotlight, many artists are still not reaping the gains. "Many aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists...Have been exploited and denied a fair share of the wealth being generated by their creations," said Lionel Quartermaine, acting chairman of ATSIC. Democrat senator Aden Ridgeway, the only aboriginal member of Australia’s national Parliament, has been pushing for fairer treatment and better protection for aboriginal artists. "It is particularly important in the context of the rapidly booming international market for indigenous artworks as compared to the desperate economic conditions within which many indigenous artists live and work," said Ridgeway. Australia’s 400,000 aborigines and Torres Strait islanders make up two percent of the 20 million population but remain the most disadvantaged group, dying 20 years younger than other Australians amid high rates of unemployment and alcohol abuse. The Australian Government is trying to address some of these problems, launching an initiative in october to strengthen the indigenous arts industry by creating a labelling and database system to give buyers assurance about authenticity of artworks. This should also stop white artists such as Elizabeth Durack passing off their work as indigenous. Durack, who died in 2000, admitted painting as the imaginary aborigine, Eddie Burrup. "For too long the industry has been held back by a lack of recognition of the commercial and cultural significance of indigenous art protection," the Government said in a statement. "It is important artists receive appropriate levels of reward and recognition for their creative endeavour, and are supported to reach new economic and artistic heights." As aborigines step up their drive to protect their art, Britain’s Prince Harry came under fire on his 18th birthday this year for showing a series of aboriginal-style paintings he had created using the unique dot-painting technique. Rodney Dillon, Culture Commissioner with ATSIC, branded the Prince a cultural thief for using aboriginal symbols and images, but added he felt the youth should get some leeway. "But he is only a young Fella. He does need to be cut a bit of rope, but what he needs to understand is that this is very important to aboriginal people," Dillon said. (AGENCIES) |
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Israeli barrier cuts into Palestinian olive harvest JAYYOUS, WEST BANK, Nov 27: "My olives are withering on their branches because the Israelis won’t let me through this fence," said Palestinian farmer Mahmoud Khorushi, peering sadly at his vines on a terraced slope beyond. Olives are a major Palestinian cash crop and the vines a symbol of continuity on land tended by families for generations. Harvests used to be joyous occasions for family reunions, with relatives coming from far and wide to help out until Israel imposed a military clampdown on the west bank and Gaza strip in response to a Palestinian uprising. This year, the olive harvest in the most fertile belt of the arid region has been disrupted by Israel’s controversial construction of a security barrier across the West Bank, cutting off thousands of Palestinian farmers from their crops. Long before work started in 2002 the spread of Jewish settlements had been eating into Palestinian rural holdings. In recent years, extremist settlers have periodically chopped down Palestinian olive groves without prosecution. "They kill our trees to kill the hope of our people. I am ruined," said Fauzi Hussein, surveying the remains of 255 olive trees which he said had been destroyed by settlers from a new outpost overlooking his village in the central West Bank. Construction of the planned 680-Km (422-mile) mix of electronic fences, walls and trenches may prove the single biggest strike against the foundation of palestinian life on the land, UN and World Bank studies indicate. "The (barrier) will have severe humanitarian consequences," the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said in a November report. In a study based on an official map, it said 274,000 Palestinians could wind up marooned between the barrier and Israel’s border, or in enclaves created by the structure once construction was complete. Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the findings, saying that only four percent of Palestinians would be west of the barrier. Israel says the barrier is needed to keep out suicide bombers and gunmen waging a three-year-old Palestinian revolt. But by often meandering from Israel’s border well into the West Bank, the barrier’s first 180 Km (112 miles) have separated over 70,000 people from fields, markets, schools and public services from the rest of the territory where Palestinians seek a state. More than 65,000 olives trees have been uprooted, thousands of hectares (acres) of rural property appropriated and scarce water sources threatened by its construction, according to international studies. And by appearing to annex territory where Jewish settlements have proliferated, the barrier is compounding obstacles to a "road-map" to peace, its US-led sponsors say. "Israel should freeze settlement construction..., end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people and not prejudice final negotiations with the placement of walls and fences," US President George W Bush said in London last week. Israel brushed off the criticism from its main ally and vowed to continue. It was bad news for Palestinian olive farmers in villages like Jayyous who wait for hours each day in the hope of crossing the barrier and tending their vines on the slopes beyond. Israel has built 29 "farm gates" along the first 150 Km (90 miles) in what it says is a policy of ensuring that farmers can tend their fields. Palestinians say the gates have been open for only brief periods at varying times and are sometimes shut for days on end. Israel says such closures are due to "security alerts". Villagers complain of "collective punishment". They say the harvest has been impaired and could amount to less than half of last year’s. Israel’s Defence Ministry said farmers have filed about 50 claims for losses so far and compensation was granted for each. Israel requires Palestinians living within the "closed military zone" of the barrier to hold permits to transit farm gates or pass checkpoints en route to and from other villages. Local municipal officials say most of the permits have been issued to the very young or old or to others who moved abroad years ago — rather than to male residents in their 20s, 30s and 40s who form the overwhelming majority of olive growers. Israeli Army Spokeswoman Captain Sharon Feingold responded: "We give permits to anyone except those deemed a security threat or whose linkage to the seam zone (barrier) is not proven. "Yes, we do get complaints about the gates and we are addressing them," she said. "The whole concept’s still new. Both sides have to learn it. We’re committed to maintaining normal routine for the Palestinian people in the seam zone." Those lacking permits still turn up at the gates every morning in jayyous and other villages, hoping that a soldier might take pity on them and let them go through. "Nine times out of 10 it won’t happen. But we’re here just in case because we’re desperate to harvest at least some of our crop before it spoils," said Khader Suleiman, a jayyous grower. As his group waited, Israeli army jeeps roared past ignoring them. Finally one stopped and soldiers opened a gate. "Go home, you’ve come at the wrong time" one barked at the farmers. Women and elderly people with permits raced to another gate a kilometre away after hearing that a US human rights monitor had shown up to challenge soldiers there. The observer remonstrated with the soldiers but only the women and elderly with permits were allowed through. The younger men had to retreat to another day of idleness at home. "If and when the gates open depends entirely on the whim of the soldiers on duty," said jayyous Mayor Fais Hassan Selim. Heaped in his front yard are the gnarled remains of a huge 400-year-old olive tree he said Israeli forces tore from a family plot. ‘’it’s a memorial,’’ he said. (AGENCIES) |
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China welcomes ceasefire between India and Pakistan BEIJING, Nov 27: China today lauded India for responding ‘actively’ and ‘positively’ to Pakistan’s ceasefire proposal and hoped the two south Asian neighbours would resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue. "After Pakistan announced ceasefire, the Indian side has also taken active and positive actions. We welcome the posture of the two sides," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters here at a bi-weekly briefing. "We endorse all kinds of efforts that are conducive to the relaxation of regional situation and development of bilateral relations," he said while commenting on the November 26 decision of India and Pakistan to stop trading fire along the Line of Control (LoC). "We are supporting a peaceful solution to the disputes between the two countries. We think this is not only in the interest of the two peoples and two countries, but also conducive for the peace and stability in the world and in the region," Liu said. He said Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who met for the first time with India’s new Ambassador to China, Nalin Surie here yesterday also expressed the hope that India and Pakistan can proceed from the interests of the stability of the region and maintain a momentum of relaxation to develop bilateral ties so as to resolve their disputes through peaceful means. Briefing on Li’s meeting with Surie, the spokesman said they exchanged views on bilateral relations and praised the development of ties between the two countries. "Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will work together with the Indian Ambassador to push forward for stability and peace in south Asia," Liu said. Meanwhile, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported last night that Li told Surie that China is devoted to establishing a long-term ‘constructive cooperative partnership’ with India and bilateral relations between the two countries are developing well. Li stressed that Sino-Indian relations have great opportunity for development. In political areas, exchanges of high-level visits are frequent and mutual trust has deepened, and in economic areas, bilateral trade volume is expected to be over seven billion US dollars this year, Li said. Trade volume of 10 billion US dollars, a target set by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, can be realised before 2005. In addition, special representatives of the two sides on border issues have held their first round of talks. Li also said China welcomes and appreciates External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha’s speech on its policy regarding China which he made on November 21. (PTI) |
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Vasundhara rules out hung verdict in Rajasthan BIKANER, Nov 27: BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Vasundhara Raje today ruled out a hung verdict in Rajasthan in the ensuing assembly elections but said her party was not averse to entering into a coalition if necessary. "I don’t think coalition could be a problem, she told PTI during a whirlwind election tour of Bikaner division, where Jats have a sizeable presence and she is called a "Jat Bahu" (daughter-in-law of Jat family). She is also seeking to encash that status. Raje asserted that there would not be a hung assembly and said that people were "fed up" with the "non-working" Ccongress Ggovernment led by Ashok Gehlot in the last five years. On a tour of Nagur, Bikaner, Sikar districts during the day, the former Maharani of Dholpur, who was brought to the Centre stage of Rajasthan politics a year ago to revive the almost-defunct party organisation, said "we have learnt to live with coalition politics". She pointed to the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre to prove her point. Vasundhara dismissed reports that Indian Nationa Lok Dal, an alliance partner of NDA at the Centre, had entered the state eletoral arena in a big way to break the presumable stronghold of Congress on Jats, who are said to have influence in about 80 of the 200 assembly seats going for the polls on December 1. Vasundhara, whose campaingers have taken the Lion Rajput Ke Beti, Jat Ki Bahu Aur Gujar Ki Samdhan (Rajput by birth, Jat by marriage and related to Gujars by marrying his son in a Gujar family), is seeking to exploit these factors in the caste-ridden politics of the state. Maintaining that "gradually" things were moving in BJP’s favour, Vasundhara rued that she did not have enough time to travel to many places in the state. "I wish we had some more days to campaign". She said the party had brought in a lot of new faces and this strategy could result in substantial improvemen in the position of BJP, which has secured just 33 seats in the 1998 assembly elections with Congress winning 153. On the reports of turf war between the younger generation and old guards in the party, Vasundhara said "there is no problem of turf. We are missing somebody of the stature of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (Vice President)". Referring to the infighting in the party ever since she was appointed the president of the state unit and declaration of her name as Chief Ministerial candidate as "transitional changes", she said that "ours is a democratic set up and everybody is fighting the misrule of Congress together... One year is a long time (since she assumed the state’s leadership)". Asked whether the infighting would not hurt the BJP’s poll prospects, she said "we can only improve on our position. Last time we got 33 seats. Changes will help us. But we are bringing in a judcious mix of old experienced hands and youth to consolidate our position and this will help us get the majority. Asserting that she had never turned away from a challenge, Vasundhara conceded that she was surprised when she was asked, while abroad, to take over the leadership of the state. "I always believed in getting the things done... None of this can happen without the cooperation of partymen and support of people," she said. Asked about her ambitions in politics, she said that it was the party leadership’s decision to ask her to lead the team in the elections and she was following it. However, Vasundhara believed that she was naturally cut out for politics. She tried her hand in a few other things but got into politics. "I don’t know what I would have done otherwise," the BJP leader, who won last five Lok Sabha elections at a stretch from Jhalawar after her first assembly election from her Princely Dholpur. On whether, people of Dholpur were angry with her for going to Jhalarwar for Lok Sabha, she said no. I gave them Bhairon Singh ji (who succeeded her from the assembly constituency). (PTI) |
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Petite woman wins thanks giving eating contest NEW YORK, Nov 27: Petite former burger King manager Sonya Thomas wolfed down 7-3/4 pounds of holiday food in 12 minutes to defeat a pair of 400-pound rivals and win the thanksgiving invitational eating contest. The 106-pound Thomas of Alexandria, Virginia, devoured massive helpings of yams, green beans, cranberry sauce and turducken, a turkey stuffed with duck, chicken and sausage, to win the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) event yesterday. "I’m full but I could eat more," Thomas, 36, said. Asked her secret, she said, "I just eat fast, that’s all." Thanksgiving, which traditionally centers around a family feast, brings out the overeater in many Americans, but Thomas ruled supreme as she ate her way past 400-pounders ED "cookie" Jarvis and Eric "badlands" booker, who came in second and third, respectively. "You need four things" to participate in this sport, said Booker before the contest. "Capacity, strategy, mental toughness and stamina." "I’m an eating machine," said Booker, who holds world marks in the Matzo ball, corned beef hash and doughnut contests. Being big is no requisite for success, as Thomas proved. The glamour event on "the circuit" of competitive eating is Nathan’s fourth of July hot dog eating contest held in New York’s Coney island neighborhood. Takeru Kobayashi, a slender Japanese man who ate a record 50-1/2 hot dogs and buns in 2001, is the current superstar. In the thanksgiving contest, most of the nine competitors used their hands to stuff in the food, while Richard and George Shea, the brothers who head the ifoce, stood behind them offering commentary. The IFOCE hosts official eating contests and tracks the world’s top eaters, like record-holder Oleg Zhornitskiy, who downed four 32-ounce bowls of Mayonnaise in 8 minutes. Asked her plans for thanksgiving, thomas replied, "I’m going to eat more Turkey." The victory earned Thomas two airline tickets anywhere in the continental United States, and a Turkey statuette. (AGENCIES) |
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Pakistani brothers face life sentences over Australian rapes SYDNEY, Nov 27: Four Pakistani immigrant brothers face life sentences in Australia after they were convicted today of the gang rape of two teenage girls in Sydney. A New South Wales state Supreme Court jury found the two eldest brothers, aged 23 and 25, guilty of nine counts each of aggravated sexual assault in company. They had pleaded not guilty. Following the verdict, the Court lifted a suppression order on a trial earlier this year where the defendants’ two other brothers and another man aged 25 were convicted over the same attack. None of the defendants can be identified because the two youngest brothers were aged under 18 at the time of the crime. The Court heard the men repeatedly raped two girls aged 16 and 17 at knifepoint at the brothers’ family home in Sydney in July 2002. The girlfriend of one of the brothers told the Court she had been told by one of the accused they raped the girls "just for fun". The first trial heard the four brothers had all migrated from Pakistan over the past three years and the two brothers accused in the second trial repeatedly told the jury they knew nothing about the Australian justice system. They claimed they were the victims of an anti-Muslim conspiracy and accused police of fabricating DNA evidence, mobile phone records and other incriminating evidence against them. (AFP) |
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US forces seek cold, slimmer Saddam on run TIKRIT, IRAQ, Nov 27: US troops hunting Saddam Hussein believe he is still in Iraq, but if they can’t yet catch the ousted dictator they say they want to be sure he is cold, constantly on the run — and preferably losing weight. "My guess is he probably has a plan to keep himself nice and cosy during winter, while the rest of his people suffer," Major General Raymond Odierno said yesterday. "But we’re going to try to keep him running so he can’t be comfortable and doesn’t have enough kerosene...To keep warm. And I hope he’s lost lots of weight," added the head of the US 4th infantry division based in Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit. Odierno said there were no signs Saddam was playing a key role in guerrilla attacks, although the US military announced the capture on Tuesday of a wife and daughter of the man they believe is coordinating them. Odierno said he hoped the detention of the two relatives of Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the second most wanted man in Iraq, would generate information on the whereabouts of top fugitives. Speaking at a news conference in Tikrit, Odierno said there were no "breaking developments" in the hunt for Saddam. The fugitive dictator has a 25 million dollars price on his head while a 19 billion dollars bounty has been offered for Ibrahim. He said Ibrahim could be playing a financing role in deadly guerrilla attacks against US troops. "We don’t have specific proof that he is in fact in charge of running these operations but we do have some reports that he could be." Odierno said the quality of a recent audio tape purportedly from Saddam showed he was not hiding in comfort. "Any one of my soldiers could produce a better quality tape than he’s producing," he said. "He’s worried about being caught. I know he’s moving a lot, he’s not staying in one place." Odierno said he had seen no indication Saddam was playing any central role in the insurgency, adding he believed it was still mainly locally controlled with few links between the different hotbeds of anti-American sentiment. But he said insurgents were trying to bring leaders to Tikrit from other parts of the country because they saw Saddam’s hometown as a key battleground in fighting US forces. The United States blames Saddam loyalists and foreign Islamic fighters entering Iraq for attacks on US troops which have killed 184 American soldiers since May 1. (AGENCIES) |
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New US-backed Iraq resolution may not materialise: Diplomats UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27: A new Security Council resolution endorsing the timetable for the US-led coalition handing over power to the Iraqi governing and for holding of elections in the country may not materialise, diplomats and officials at the world body said. The reason, they cite, is that the US and Britain do not want any resolution to go beyond just endorsing the timetable. They are unwilling to concede the demand by France, Russia and Germany that the resolution provide for bigger UN role, enunciate political process which would include all Iraqis who are opposed to violence as also key middle eastern countries and provide for a role for the world body in every stage. However, the agreement between the governing council and the coalition does not envisage any role for the United Nations in the political process and there is no indication as yet that they are considering any change in that. According to diplomats, the US and Britain are yet to start drafting a resolution. Meanwhile, in another development, media reports from Washington quoted US officials as saying that Iraqis had told them their letter to the security council was sent by mistake. In a letter received by the UN on Monday, the current President of governing council Jalal Talabani had sought a new Security Council Resolution endorsing the agreement the governing council had entered into with the US on transfer of power. The report quoted American officials as saying that it was only the first draft that someone put into mail by mistake. Asked about the reports, Chief UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said he had not been informed that a new letter had been sent. Under the agreement between US and the governing council, a provisional body representing all segments of the Iraqi society would be constituted by may end and it would appoint a provisional Government to which the coalition will hand over power by June end. The coalition will later be dissolved. The provisional Government would organize election for a constitutional convention by March 15, 2005 and the constitution drafted by it would be put to referendum. An elected government would take office by December end 2005. (PTI) |
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US Pentagon to send extra marines to Iraq WASHINGTON, Nov 27: The US military is sending three additional battalions of marine infantryman to Iraq, the US broadcaster CNN reported today. According to the report, around 3000 soldiers are to take the place of a lacking third multinational division. Two such divisions were supplied by Britain and Poland. In addition, 8,000 reservists from the US Army, Marines, Air Force and National Guards have been notified of deployment to Iraq, the Pentagon reported. The call-up of the reservists conforms to a plan first broached in early November for the replenishing of troops in Iraq. Under this plan, the overall strength of US forces in Iraq is due to decrease from the current 130,000 to 105,000 by May 2004. (DPA) China warns US of ambiguous stand on Taiwan BEIJING, Nov 27: China described the Sino-US relationship today as one of the world’s most influential and volatile, threatened by the "ambiguous" US policy towards Taiwan. In an article published just days before Premier Wen Jiabao visits the United States, the official China daily quoted diplomats as saying relations were at an all-time high but added that it was risky to forecast trends. "The ambiguous US strategy across the Taiwan Straits only serves to encourage the island’s separatists and jeopardise the one-China policy as well as the political foundation of Sino-US relations," the newspaper said. The Parliament in Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province, votes today on whether the island should have the right to hold referendums — a bill that China has strongly condemned as a step towards a declaration of independence. Washington shifted its diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979. It routinely says it backs the "one-China" policy and does not support Taiwan independence. But the United States remains the island’s biggest ally and arms supplier. Beijing and Taipei split at the end of a civil war in 1949. Last week, China urged the United States to stop selling weapons to Taiwan and honour its commitment to the "one-China" policy. "Only by doing so can the interests of both China and the United States be safeguarded and peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits be maintained," a foreign ministry spokesman said. China told taiwan it ran the risk of war if it pushed towards independence. The China daily also said China and the United States shared many trade and strategic interests. Beijing had promoted six-party talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis and supported the US-led war on terrorism. China and the United States "remain different in many ways but never before have they been so closely bound together", it said. (AGENCIES) Japan military survey team returns from Iraq TOKYO, Nov 27: Members of a Japanese military fact-finding mission to southern Iraq returned home today to report to the Government on the feasibility of sending troops to the area to help with humanitarian and reconstruction work. The team was dispatched to gather information on security after a suicide bomb attack in Nassiriya on November 12 killed 19 Italians. The Japanese Government is considering nearby Samawah as a base for its troops. Domestic media said the mission was likely to report that there would be no major problems with dispatching troops to Samawah and that the Government could decide on a deployment plan next week. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that no date had been set for a decision. Domestic media have said the Government was planning to send a group of around 1,200 troops and civilians, an idea that is unpopular with the public and controversial given Japan’s pacifist constitution. A London-based Arab magazine reported last week that Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network had vowed to attack Japan if it sent troops to Iraq. (AGENCIES) Soaring value of aboriginal art fuels controversy CANBERRA, Nov 27: Once almost solely the domain of tourists, Australian aboriginal art has now caught the attention of the international art world — as well as of opportunists hoping to profit from a growing demand. The growth in status and value of aboriginal art in recent years has prompted a new breed of fraudsters to try and capitalise on the popularity of the distinctive paintings that depict stories of one of the world’s oldest races. Mass reproduction of aboriginal art and a series of high-profile fraud scandals have sparked a campaign by Australia’s indigenous community to protect its art, even accusing Britain’s Prince Harry of "stealing" aboriginal concepts. "Where there’s the money there’s the fakers," said Tim Klingender, aboriginal art director at Sotheby’s auction house. Australia’s key aboriginal group, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), estimates the surge in popularity has made the indigenous arts industry worth around a 200 million dollars annually and it is growing at 10 percent a year. "It’s a field where people don’t have an enormous amount of expertise so some of the unscrupulous agents can sell third quality work dressed up as first-rate work," Klingender said. Australian art dealer John Douglas O’Loughlin was the first person to be convicted of aboriginal art fraud when he pleaded guilty in 1999 to selling paintings he claimed were the work of renowned aboriginal artist Clifford possum Tjapaltjarri. It was reported at the time that an Australian Court heard the paintings — worth more than a 10,000 — had been signed by Tjapaltjarri, but the artist said he was drunk and intimidated by O’Loughlin at the time. The dealer denied the artist’s claims. At a Sotheby’s auction in Sydney in July this year, 506 pieces of aboriginal art — the largest collection ever assembled for sale —sold for more than a 7.5 million dollars. More than half the money came from foreign collectors and investors. "It has taken a while to explode...But it shows the market has reached a certain maturity," said Petra Campbell, managing director of the annual sydney aboriginal and oceanic art fair. But while indigenous work now basks in the international spotlight, many artists are still not reaping the gains. "Many aboriginal and Torres Strait islander artists...Have been exploited and denied a fair share of the wealth being generated by their creations," said Lionel Quartermaine, acting chairman of ATSIC. (AGENCIES) |
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