Cultural integrity and 'urban' artists
It is clear that those Aboriginal communities with relatively traditional social arrangements have very particular needs. However, most of Australia’s Aboriginal people live in circumstances in which they are largely alienated from ancestral country language, ritual and symbolism. Does the idea of cultural integrity apply in the same way to such people?
A number of perspectives on this question have been expressed by Aboriginal artists. Gordon Bennett’s earlier observations are notable in this discussion; he has indicated that there is an element of restriction, or social control, at work when commentators position him as an ‘urban Aboriginal artist’.
It should be pointed out that the idea of integrity is quite distinct from ‘preservation’. Integrity, or wholeness, is strongly connected to the ability to control or determine outcomes. In other words, a culture might develop in a way that is fluid and dynamic and yet still retain an essential integrity, because it is able to carry its people with it. Gordon Bennett, for example, quite consciously explores the many traditions of Aboriginal art and culture, since they bear upon his self-understanding.
Preservation suggests a more limited ambition. It tends to imply that cultures can be frozen in time. It also has an unfortunate connection to the anxieties of the dominant culture: people are fearful of losing marginalised cultures in a way that is similar to their fears about endangered landscapes, species and the trappings of a nostalgic past.
Some Aboriginal artists, such as Fiona Foley, have made it clear that they believe the issue of cultural integrity is important to people living and working in Australia’s urban centres. She says:
It is impossible to ignore the fact that our culture is still vital to us. I have real trouble saying ‘urban’... I think it would be helpful and true to recognise different people’s countries. I am a Butchulla person.
... Certainly my own choice of symbol reflects what I consider ‘traditional’. A lot of my imagery about ceremony draws on my being allowed to go into Arnhem Land - a considerable privilege for me as a young woman ... I make images in my head and they are put down in a few days’ time like a map from an aerial perspective ... I also use bones a lot; this image relates to the middens on Fraser Island, which are significant to my people, the Badtjala people. Bones, like the pippi shell heaps, signify that there was a traditional people there for thousands of years who must not be forgotten.
(Foley, 1991)