Epic battle over Epic Country as NGA exhibition opens

An exhibition linked to the nation's biggest art controversy in decades is opening at the National Gallery of Australia after a three-year delay.

The Ngura Pulka - Epic Country exhibition was postponed following claims published in The Australian newspaper that white arts workers interfered with works by Aboriginal artists at the APY (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Art Centre Collective.

As Ngura Pulka finally opens with a smoking ceremony on Saturday, the collective continues to strenuously deny the allegations.

It's seeking $4.4 million in damages from The Australian and journalist Greg Bearup in a defamation action to be heard in the Supreme Court of South Australia.

The collective's statement of claim details the fallout from the explosive articles, first published in 2023 with the headline: Claims of white hands on black art: 'Can I juice this one up a little bit?'

At the end of March that year, the art collective was waiting on a $1.4 million payment from the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) for the acquisition of the 28 artworks originally created for Ngura Pulka.

However, after the allegations were published in the first week of April, the deal was called off, and the paintings would no longer become part of Australia's national collection.

They will instead be returned to artists at the close of the exhibition in August, according to the NGA.

This was just the start of the continuing impact of the scandal, which the art collective claims has damaged its reputation in the Aboriginal art community, across Australia, and in the art world globally.

Income at its galleries in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney had averaged about $290,000 a month, but fell by about a third following the articles.

Operational funding through Arts SA worth $840,000 was terminated, and several government grant bids fell through.

Support from Westpac Bank worth $150,000 was not renewed, and a commercial gallery exhibition in Berlin came to nothing.

The collective also claimed it was barred from one of the biggest events on the Indigenous art calendar, the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, where it had previously made about $220,000 each year.

It was also dropped by the ethical standards body for the First Nations art sector, the Indigenous Art Code.

"2023 was just an absolute nightmare. The tension and racism that was experienced by artists was absolutely out of control," collective general manager Skye O'Meara said.

The organisation survived by the skin of its teeth, said O'Meara, who described the opening of Ngura Pulka as a triumph for the collective and its artists.

The collective was subject to four separate investigations including a probe commissioned by the NGA, which cleared the artworks in the exhibition.

An investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found no breaches of consumer law, but acknowledged broader cultural issues at the organisation that fell outside its enforcement powers.

The Aboriginal-owned collective supports about 500 Anangu artists, many from remote communities where arts centres are the only source of non-government income.

Journalist Greg Bearup and The Australian newspaper have been contacted for comment.

Ngura Pulka is on show at the NGA until August 23.