When a news story, and subsequent video footage, was published by The Australian in April 2023, it sent a seismic ripple across the visual arts sector – one that had a detrimental impact upon the livelihood of Aboriginal artists, and the collecting and presentation of their artworks.
Central to the allegations of malicious interference – hyped in the media as ‘white hands on black art’ – was the APY Art Centre Collective (APYACC), an Indigenous owned and governed enterprise with galleries in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. It has proven to be a successful, alternative business model representing artists and art centres from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands).
