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Some Thought On Displaying Indigenous Art
From the outset I should prefix my thoughts by saying I have no Indigenous heritage nor any particular expertise on the matter of Indigenous art, so the opinions expressed below are merely that of a suburban picture framer who sees a lot of art. I am happy to be corrected if anyone thinks I am mistaken.
Another important caveat to add is that the phrase “Indigenous art” is a broad, catch-all term which is applied to an extremely diverse body of work, produced over many decades by variety of artists with their own working methods and drawing from many different cultures. For instance, the work of artists from Arnhem Land is more often than not very different than those from the APY Lands.
What I intend to speak of here when I talk about Indigenous art could be more colloqially described as “dot paintings” and their associated styles. These are charcterised by their high levels of abstraction, and on an aesthetic level appear to have more in common with modernist abstract expressionism than figurative painting. More often than not, they are not signed on the front but they may or may not have the artist’s name and perhaps a title written on the back of the canvas (which may or may not have been written by the artist themselves, but often by the gallery), which raises an important question for the buyer: which way should I hang the work?
Some buyers have a clear idea of what they want – the work speaks to them in a particular way and it seems obvious to them how they wish to display it. Others are less sure, or are perhaps less confident, and while they might have their own ideas about things, they wish to honour the artist’s intent. What to do?
The most obvious answer, and the one I default to wherever available, is simply to orient any text on the back so that it appears upright. Simple enough in theory, but many canvases I have seen will have the artist’s name printed up one side and the title of the work down the other which rather complicates things. In some cases, the work itself will feature some compositional element – a shape or a particular array of colour – which would seem to dictate a certain orientation. Whether this is correct or not is impossible to say without asking the artist directly, but it is often the case that it would simply seem wrong to the eye to hang it any other way.
The problem of course is one of perspective. We display art on a wall and gaze upon it in much the same way we would look out a window. The history of Western, which has been almost exclusively figurative up until recent times has also taught us to view things in terms of “up” and “down”. Here it is important to consider the working methods of many Indigenous artists who will lay the canvas upon the ground to paint it, rather than propping it upright on an easel. In short, their perspective is often one of looking down and their approach to a given subject matter, be it landscape, mythology or history, is topographical, which stands in stark contrast to the Western traditions of portraiture and the vista.
So what I am I getting at? Simply that I don’t think our usual notions of “up” and “down” have much meaning here and I’m not sure it really matters which way the work is displayed because it seems our tendency to hang art upon a wall is inherently at odds with the perspective of the painting itself. In the absence of any concrete indications, you can only go with your gut feeling. If the painting speaks to you in some way, you’ll know.
Recent Work
Probably the most interesting job I did this month – indeed probably the most interesting job I’ve done in a while – was framing a series of limited edition linocuts from the 1960s by Regina Lichter-Liron, a Jewish artist and Holocaust survivor who I am told lived in Australia for a time. The works (of which there were five) were all based on her experiences at Auschwitz and are about as stark and powerful as you’d expect given the medium and subject matter, but what was equally interesting (from a framer’s perspective) was the manner in which their owner desired them framed. He intends to donate them to the local Holocaust museum, but he was quite adamant he wanted them framed in a manner which did not sanitize the subject matter with too polished an aesthetic. To this end, he brought me a bunch of old, battered timber frames to cut down and reuse, requesting that I do nothing to clean them up and that I join them with exposed nails. This was not mere artiface, but to replicate the look of the frames in which he had originally bought them in but which had become too damaged over time (if I recall correctly) to be of further use. Naturally, works of this historical value demand a certain level of quality to ensure their long-term preservation, so while we kept the worn look of the frames, the works themselves are safely preserved between acid-free boards and behind 99% UV-resistant, conservation-grade glass.
Upcoming Events
My beautiful and talented wife Amy will be teaching a full day workshop in botanical illustration at Sim&Co in Parkside on June 28th. You can spend a full day capturing the intricacies of a single cut flower drawn faithfully from life in graphite pencil. Flower and materials provided, just bring yourself and a packed lunch. If you have any interest in natural history illustration and have ever seen Amy’s work, I’m sure you won’t want to miss this opportunity. Full details available via Sim&Co.
On Monday May 26th at 11pm I will be a guest once more on 3D Radio’s “It’s Always Rock’n’Roll”. It always an honour to be asked on, and this time I will be playing more Euro-prog and synthwave, as well as a bit of Industrial and maybe some Brazillian funk, along with what can only be termed “avant-garage”. It should be fun if you’re up late.
