The Indigenous art sector has experienced an immediate drop in sales after footage surfaced of non-Indigenous staff at a major art centre painting on the canvas of an award-winning Indigenous artist.
A video published by The Australian over Easter depicted an art centre worker at Tjala Arts, in South Australia's far north, appearing to make decisions and painting on Yariltji Young's painting of the Tjukurpa — the spiritual and sacred law that governs culture.
The centre is part of APY Art Centre Collective (APY ACC), which, in a statement on its website, has "strenuously" denied "the over-arching narrative that APY ACC art and any artists are compromised".
"To the contrary. We believe our professional studios meet highest standards of integrity and professionalism," the statement reads in part.
Cecilia Alfonso, manager of Northern Territory-based Aboriginal-owned arts centre Warlukurlangu Artists, said there had been a significant drop in sales since the allegations relating to Tjala Arts surfaced.
"Our sales were immediately negatively impacted by this story breaking," Ms Alfonso said.
She said in the weekends preceding Easter, the art centre had sold between $10,000 and $30,000 worth of art.
"The weekend after the story broke, we sold $500," Ms Alfonso said.
"And sales haven't improved."
She said sales traditionally dropped over the Easter weekend but not to the extent experienced this year.
"Our sales were a fifth of what they were the previous year."
Artists' livelihoods under pressure
Ms Alfonso said Warlukurlangu Artists, which was established in Yuendumu in 1985, was a signatory to the Desart Art collective based in Alice Springs, which was not involved with APY ACC.
She said Warlukurlangu Artists provided meaningful employment for more than 800 artists across the NT's Western Desert region.
"People rely on that extra income to buy food and whitegoods and to be able to travel," she said.
"[The extra income] has a dramatic effect on people's quality of life."
Ms Alfonso said she was concerned about the repercussions on the industry and for the art centre she ran.
"Art centres were established to work ethically," she said.
"And that is part of our marketing.
"If you buy through an art centre you can be guaranteed that the artist who is on the canvas is the person that painted that painting."
She said she believed the video published provided evidence of interference.
"Those two girls in that video were actually dictating the structure and dictating to the artist what should go on to that canvas," Ms Alfonso said.
Ripple effect
Art galleries specialising in Indigenous art, and which are not associated with APY ACC, echoed Ms Alfonso's concerns about provenance and the flow-on effect on the industry.
Euan Hills, who has owned the Hobart gallery Art Mob for two decades, said there was an immediate impact on sales.
"The video that I've seen and listened to is a damning indictment," he said.
"Our sales dropped considerably."
Mr Hills said a recent exhibition featuring works by Steven Jupurrurla Nelson went out to more than 6,000 people on their mailing database.
"We had one response to it," he said.
"Today, we had one sale from a local couple and that is not what I'd expect to have from an exhibition of that category."
Mr Hills said he held concerns for artists' livelihoods.
"It also worries me about the questions that have been raised about art in general, as far as Indigenous art goes, about provenance."
'Collateral damage'
Sydney-based Nichola Dare, who runs the gallery Aboriginal Contemporary, which is not connected to the APY ACC, said the conversations about ethics in Indigenous art had "ramped up" in recent weeks.
She said consumers were asking if the Indigenous artists she was exhibiting had painted the paintings.
"So there's this question of doubt that's gone into their mind," Ms Dare said.
"People are cautious and it's becoming a barrier to buying."
Ms Dare said the "ripple effect" of the allegations were far reaching.
"I'm concerned that the whole industry becomes collateral damage," she said.
"It's having a real economic and financial impact to the communities and the sector."
Ms Dare said April was always a slow month for her gallery but the allegations came at a time when cost of living pressures were already affecting consumers.
"To then overlay [cost of living] with a issue around provenance, authenticity and ethics within the industry is a double hit," she said.
Ms Dare said the public made an assumption the artworks they were buying had been painted by the artist.
"That's a totally fair and reasonable assumption," she said.
"So for that to come into question will be a problem for the whole for the industry."
APY ACC rejects allegations
In the statement on its website, the APY ACC said the allegations of artistic interference were offensive.
"True industry experts understand the line between assistance at artists' direction and interference with the artistic process and know that APY ACC has never crossed this line," it reads.
"It is grossly offensive to the many hundreds of proud Anangu who work with APY ACC to suggest otherwise, or that they would tolerate their Tjukurpa being interfered with."
Philip Watkins, chief executive officer of Desart, the peak arts body for 35 Central Australian Aboriginal art centres, said he was aware of the allegations but would not be making a public statement.
KU Arts, the South Australian equivalent of Desart, declined an interview but released a statement on its website outlining the group's "serious concerns" about the reports.
KU Arts has pledged to support any Anangu artists who have been affected by the allegations.
