The thesis “By Some Trick of the Light my Skin was Darker” explores the driving forces of my work. The title refers to a kind of primal scene in my youth when I first entertained the tensions of being half-native and half-Caucasian. I realized that through a trick of the light caused by the refraction of water I could be native in spite of my white appearance. Using the discourses of colonialism, cultural appropriation, identity politics and an expanded notion of painting that verges on the practices of presentation and display I interrogate the problem of hybridity. I argue my practice of painting is an externalization or literalization of an internal tension that is constitutive of the self. Through stories and experiences of my life on and off the reservation, inside and outside the studio, through written prose and poetic repetition I hope to help viewers better understand the esoteric elements in my work. / October 2016

I am a Latje Latje man born and raised in Mildura. I am a contemporary artist, a dancer and a father. I began dancing with the Latje Latje dance group when I was four. I come from river country. I spent the first six years of my life on the banks of the Murray River. The river runs right through my work. During the course of my Masters, I have been spending time in the north of Victoria, in central Victoria and in South Gippsland by the sea in Boonerwrung country. I a man of the river, but since the birth of my son, I have been developing a relationship with the sea. My relationship to the sea changed when my son moved to the sea. My spiritual connection to the sea has grown the more time I have spent there and the more spiritual knowledge I have gained of my ancestral country of the Boonerwrung. Within this research project, I explore the question: How can art-making generate a process of recovery, healing and celebration? In my Masters I have developed two series of paintings, one from the river and one from the sea. The first group of paintings were shown in a nine-month solo exhibition, 'City Style - Country Youth' at Bunjilaka, the Aboriginal Section of the Melbourne Museum. The second group were shown at another solo exhibition called 'Mungo Stories' held at the Australia Dreaming Art gallery in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Artefacts My Master of Arts includes the following artefacts: • An Exhibition of Paintings selected from the 63 artworks I have undertaken during the course of my Masters • An Exegesis in which I tell the story of my paintings and my research and in which I give an overview of the paintings I have done during my research degree • A Digital Story which combines didgeridoo music with a selection of my images • Two Audio Tracks, 'Paintings Talk' and 'Grinding the Ochre' • A Short Film in which I describe my experience as a contemporary Indigenous artist.

The purpose of this research is to contribute a non indigenous perspective to current discourse on sense of place in contemporary Australia. The research employs a number of strategies to investigate current responses to our geographic and historical time position. Within the exegesis there is a vers libre poem, written from the imagined viewpoint of members of the Burke and Wills’ expedition. The poem is supported by a superimposition of the Don Quixote story over that of the ill-fated inland Australian explorers. [...] / Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

The purpose of this research is to contribute a non indigenous perspective to current discourse on sense of place in contemporary Australia. The research employs a number of strategies to investigate current responses to our geographic and historical time position. Within the exegesis there is a vers libre poem, written from the imagined viewpoint of members of the Burke and Wills’ expedition. The poem is supported by a superimposition of the Don Quixote story over that of the ill-fated inland Australian explorers. [...] / Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

In Traditional Navajo Sandpainting and John Dewey's Concept of An Experience I argue that the traditional Navajo sandpainting ceremony and John Dewey's concept of an experience mutually inform each other. By looking at traditional Navajo sandpaintings one can understand the type of experience Dewey is talking about when he talks about an experience. By looking at Dewey's concept of an experience one can understand the kind of experience the Navajo have when they participate in the sandpainting ceremonies. These experiences are deeply embedded in the foundation and meaning of life. Dewey argues that art and life are not separate. The traditional Navajo sandpaintings illustrate this. Life and the aesthetic are interwoven and connected. Beauty is part of our everyday lives and fills it with meaning.

This thesis attempts to illuminate and problematize the marriage of capitalism and colonialism that results in the widespread appropriation of Indigenous expressions of culture, and in particular, totem poles. This project complicates our understanding of totem poles as they have been presented in the marketplace and restores some of the intricate legal meaning to these incredible works. First, I examine Canadian intellectual property law and colonial policies of cultural erasure like the potlatch ban. Next, I explore the use of rights discourse, or legalism, as a potential route for solutions to this issue. I then conduct case studies of three totem poles. I examine one totem pole as a commodity, one functioning as a piece of art and someone's livelihood, and one as part of a Tlingit legal tradition. This last totem, as a materially appropriated object, provides an opportunity to explore the treatment of totem poles in proper context and also functions as a suggested solution to Indigenous art appropriation more broadly. My intervention on this last totem reframes these issues in a non-Western legal cannon to attempt to address these difficult legal questions. My examination of these three totems serves to destabilize our understanding of totem poles sold in the marketplace, and to broaden our understanding of totems as manifestations of Indigenous laws. / Graduate

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2008. / Advisor : Catherine Wilkinson Zerner. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-191) and index.

The exhibition “Terrance Houle & Adrian Stimson: Exploring Indigenous Masculinities” showcased the performance art of Terrance Houle (Blood/Ojibway) and Adrian Stimson (Siksika) at the Union Gallery in Kingston, Ontario from March 20th to March 22nd, 2012. Both artists used the occasion to interrogate how Indigenous identities are constructed and perceived. The artists’ interaction with the audience and the space of the gallery itself acted to destabilize lingering colonial beliefs about Indigenous identity. This thesis explores how the Kingston performances investigate the historical construction of Indigenous masculine identities. Through the artists’ own embodiment of historical knowledge (both colonial and Indigenous knowledges) and their interaction with the audience and gallery space, the performances challenged and reimagined colonial perceptions of Indigenous masculine identity as a singular, static form. The performances served to translate alternative knowledges about Indigenous men and models of Indigenous masculinity, a dynamic I analyze in this thesis as a larger set of tactics and effects available to artists decolonizing Indigenous masculinities. / Thesis (Master, Cultural Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-25 21:04:21.008

This thesis discusses the recent construction and anthropological collaboration of the Paris museum: Musée du quai Branly (MQB), an art museum dedicated to showcasing art collections specific to aboriginal and indigenous cultures in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The opening of MQB in June 2006 raised a plethora of controversial questions concerning the museum’s methods of curatorial display of the art it has made its primary focus. One of the major issues discussed examines the Quai Branly’s authentic, or inauthentic, representation of certain artworks displayed throughout the museum. Thus, the essay raises the questions: does a non-Western object remain authentic once it is exhibited in a Western society’s art museum? To answer this question, the essay explores the various explanations of art and authenticity in order to reach an understandable conclusion of what constitutes an authentic display of non-Western objects in a Western art museum.

This thesis explores factors that determine the price for Australian art sold at auction. Using a large data set that comprises over 20,000 sale observations of Australian paintings sold between 1995 and 2003 characteristics associated with the artist, the work and auction are included in a series of hedonic models. In addition to modelling the overall market, differences within defined market segments for Indigenous and Non-indigenous art are explored. The role of artist identity and critical acclaim, the period in which art works are created and the event of an artist death are areas of specific focus within the analysis along with an investigation of the risks and returns associated with Australian art investment. It is found that artist identity is a crucial factor that drives price. Further, the most highly valued Non-indigenous art works are found to be created prior to 1900, although the market for Contemporary art produced post 1980 is associated with relatively high prices also. Distinctions emerge between Indigenous and Non-indigenous art as we consider the period in which works are created and the influence this has upon price. Almost 90 per cent of Indigenous art sold at auction has been created since 1970 and it is works from the 1970s that command the highest prices for Indigenous art sold at auction. This is not unexpected given the rise of Indigenous art in the early 1970s coinciding with the emergence of the Papunya Tula art movement. The death of an artist also proves to have a different influence upon price when we compared Indigenous and Non-indigenous art. For Non-indigenous art there is clear evidence of a death effect upon art prices, where prices typically rise around the time of an artists death before falling back somewhat with the passing of time. For Indigenous art the influence of a living artist's conditional life expectancy upon price proves to be of greater relevance in explaining price where as the artist ages and the term of their life expectancy reduces prices tend to rise. The analysis within this thesis finishes with the construction of a number of short term art price indices where it is found that returns to investment in Indigenous art are generally higher and less risky compared to Non-indigenous art. Australian art generally and Indigenous art in particular is found to have a relatively weak correlation with the stock market suggesting that Australian art has a role to play in a balanced investment portfolio especially taking into account the aesthetic utility that can also be derived as a result of holding art. The research contributes to understanding how the auction market for Australian art operates with emphasis paid to the distinctions and similarities observed within the sub-markets for Indigenous and Non-indigenous art. Insights from this research have the potential to inform public policy on a number of issues including the effect of resale royalties upon the operation of the auction market, and how indigenous economic development may be facilitated through a strong market for Indigenous art.