Abstract
There is a vibrant and distinctive Islamic art heritage in Australia, which deserves to be examined on its own terms. The curation of art and material culture exhibitions in multicultural Australia, where diverse interest groups contest historical narratives, presents exciting opportunities for public engagement. Both Islamic and Indigenous art share the impact of European Orientalism, social marginalisation and recent politicisation, and thus seek an earnest focus for cultural critique and contemporary reconciliation.
This chapter looks at the differing ways that two major institutions explore revised representations of, and relations between, South-East Asian, Islamic and Indigenous Australian visual cultures to create a distinctive Australian vision of Islamic art. This is a vision that rejects the centrality of the expanded Middle East and showcases the formation of vibrant pluralist identities. The institutions are the Art Gallery of South Australia— which has collected Islamic art since 1916, forming the only permanent display in a public institution in Australia—and Charles Sturt University, which teaches a unique Islamic art subject developed through the experiences of regional Australian students.
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Notes
- 1.
In an edition of La Trobe published in conjunction with the exhibition Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond, curated by Susan Scollay, at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, in 2012. It represents a collection of important reviews of Australian Muslim history and its representation, essential for curators in this field. See https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/about-us/our-publications/la-trobe-journal/la-trobe-journal-no-89-may-2012, accessed 14 May 2019.
- 2.
The appointee is Dr Peyvand Firouzeh.
- 3.
This list is by no means conclusive.
- 4.
This chapter (and original conference presentation) is indebted to James Bennett’s collaboration.
- 5.
Beyond Words: Calligraphic Traditions of Asia, 27 August 2016–30 April 2017, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, for an exhibition overview, see www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/beyond-words/, accessed 14 May 2019.
- 6.
This quote has been attributed to Elaine Heumann Gurian, who does not claim ownership of it. See http://www.egurian.com/omnium-gatherum/museum-issues/leadership/change-management/peaceable-with-a-small-p (2018), accessed 20 February 2019.
- 7.
A public conversation was held in tandem with the National Gallery of Victoria exhibition Architecture of Faith; see www.ngv.vic.gov.au/multimedia/in-conversation-glenn-murcutt-and-hakan-elevli/, accessed 20 February 2019.
- 8.
For an overview of the Islamic Museum of Australia project, Desypher, see www.desypher.com.au/projects/islamic-museum/, accessed 20 February 2019.
- 9.
For an overview of the Archibald Prize exhibition 2011 at the Art Gallery of NSW, see www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2011/28899/, accessed 20 February 2019.
- 10.
The other Eleven Collective members are Abdul Abdullah, Idil Abdullahi, Rusaila Bazlamit, Eugenia Flynn, Zeina Iaali, and Abdullah M.I. Syed; see https://eleven-collective.com/blog/, accessed 14 May 2019.
- 11.
For Eleven Collective projects, see https://eleven-collective.com/projects/, accessed 20 February 2019.
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Bowker, S. (2020). Not Malacca but Marege: Islamic Art in Australia (or, ‘What Have the Umayyads Ever Done for Us?’). In: Norton-Wright, J. (eds) Curating Islamic Art Worldwide. Heritage Studies in the Muslim World. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28880-8_4
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