The National Gallery of Australia will reschedule a major showcase of Aboriginal art, although a government probe into allegations of artistic interference is still under way.
The exhibition Ngura Pulka – Epic Country will feature paintings from the APY (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Art Centre Collective.
The show was put on hold in April after allegations were aired in The Australian newspaper non-indigenous art workers from the collective had interfered with artworks.
On Wednesday, an independent review commissioned by the gallery cleared the 28 artworks and the gallery has agreed to reschedule the exhibition.
Artists from the collective said the attack on their integrity and artwork has been “thrown in the rubbish bin where it belongs”.
But the matter is far from over – they and art centre general manager Skye O’Meara still face a second, broader investigation led by the South Australian government.
While the National Gallery’s probe sought only to ensure that artists exercised “effective creative control” over their paintings, the South Australian review has a much wider brief.
As well as looking at allegations of intervention, concealment and failing to provide a safe workplace, it will also review the collective’s governance, management and practices.
The danger for the National Gallery is that any adverse findings might reflect not only on the collective but the exhibition too and it’s not known how long the review will take.
O’Meara is confident the collective will again be cleared and has characterised the allegations as “an opening shot in a deliberate effort to destroy the collective and its significant artistic, cultural and economic achievements”.
Yet there were some aspects of Wednesday’s findings that would have been reassuring.
The initial allegations aired by The Australian featured a 50-second edited video ostensibly showing art workers interfering with a canvas, and investigators were unable to obtain an unedited version of this footage.
Also, two artists who claimed the work of other painters had not been done independently recanted and withdrew their evidence, while other witnesses also failed to provide sworn statements.
Crucially, dated photographic evidence revealed cracks in the interference claims.
“These inconsistencies meant that some of the most important allegations of direct and improper interference were, in our view, unsustainable,” the review found.
The National Gallery says it’s monitoring the second investigation.