ABORIGINALITY IN ARCHITECTURE 1996-8
This project was a critical analysis of the incorporation of Aboriginal-inspired designs, motifs and narratives in contemporary Australian architecture. A number of high-profile buildings were commissioned with an explicit requirement that they should represent Aboriginal imagery in architectural form. These include buildings specifically for Aboriginal use, but also domestic and civic architecture and tourist developments. While such buildings received wide publicity in both the architectural and popular press, the constructions of Aboriginality to which they give voice were problematic. Given the absence of Aboriginal architects and any fixed architectural tradition, who authorizes Aboriginal architecture? To what extent are such buildings forms of cultural appropriation or legitimating gestures of reconciliation? What do such developments mean for Aboriginal cultural expression and empowerment?
Grants:
Authorizing Aboriginality in Architecture
Australian Research Council, $12,000 With Jane Jacobs, 1996-7
Publications:
'The Cultural Centre Conundrum'
'Authorizing Aboriginality in Architecture'
'Myth and Media: Constructing Aboriginal Architecture'
'Seeing Uluru'
'Architecture About Aborigines'
'Framing Aboriginal Architecture'