Just outside the Wheatbelt town of York lies the Cave Hill Farm — a site sacred to the Indigenous Ballardong people.
A place of men's business in the past, the property was used to carry out initiation ceremonies and was formerly home to Indigenous rock art displays.
But the site has now become the centre of a cultural dispute.
An exhibition by well-known artist Tim Burns has been removed from York's Gallery 152 just five days into its month-long showing after it was criticised for appropriating Aboriginal culture.
'I was shocked – we never gave him permission'
The exhibition featured photographs of a nearby quarry, and gave a written history of the significance of Cave Hill.
The text was met with condemnation by some members of the local Kickett family, including former Curtin University professor Marion Kickett.
"It's wrong. He should not have put it up," she said.
Her nephew Rohin Kickett, a Noongar artist, also led the push for parts of the display to be taken down.
"Creating these artworks, talking about a sacred site and the significance of it, he's taken the intellectual property and used it for personal gain," he said.
The man behind the work is award-winning artist Tim Burns, who has featured in galleries both domestically and overseas as far back as the 1970s.
He has denied breaching any cultural protocols, and said he had spoken to the official custodians before going ahead with the project.
"They came and redacted all the things they didn't think were applicable, and I agreed to that," he said.
"My work is about examining things that are contentious. It's what I've been doing for 60 years or so."
Burns has worked with Indigenous artists for decades, and won awards for his short film, Luke's Party, made with Aboriginal director Ros Sultan.
He used to own the quarry and wanted the show to explain why he had purchased the land.
"I saw it as a metaphor for white and black politics … it struck me that having a quarry next to the site was sort of like the Juukan Gorge situation," he said.
But Professor Kickett said the well-known artist had misled the gallery.
"I was shocked … I never, ever spoke to Tim – never gave him permission whatsoever," she said.
A Gallery 152 spokesperson said they chose to take down the display because they "did not want to hurt or cause pain" to the community.
Differing views among locals
The case has highlighted a range of perspectives about how appropriation is handled, and from where permission should be sought.
While some have been vehement that parts of the display were rightly removed, Ballardong elder and artist Dennis Kickett said he held a different view.
After changes were made to the text, he saw nothing wrong with the display.
"Some of the stuff shouldn't have been put up and I spoke to Tim about it, and Tim understands that," he said.
"What I don't agree with is Rohin [Kickett, his nephew], a young man ... going around making these statements. He does not represent our family."
But Rohin, who has worked for years advising organisations on cultural appropriation, said Burns had misrepresented his family, and had no right to share information about a sacred site.
"For me and the next generation of Noongar artists coming through, if they want to explore these things there should be space for them to explore it.
"It shouldn't be taken up by non-Indigenous artists."
Burns said he "thought I did what I was supposed to do".
"The big problem here, and what we should be looking out for, is this total censorship of the interaction between Indigenous and white artists ... it's a multicultural situation."
