Aboriginal art and cultural diplomacy: Australia, the United States, and the Culture Warriors exhibition

Sending exhibitions of Aboriginal art offshore to promote Australia's international identity as a tolerant and enlightened nation has a relatively short history. Viewed with indifference at home by Australian art museums until the early 1980s, Aboriginal art is now regularly presented abroad as the nation's preeminent art form and leading cultural export, capable of representing Australia in the area of cultural diplomacy. To date, little attention has been paid in assessing the effectiveness of such costly cultural initiatives. To this end, this paper uses as a case study the 2009 US presentation of the National Gallery of Australia's Culture Warriors: Australian Indigenous Art Triennial. The paper draws on interviews with key figures involved in the exhibition's construction and US uptake. Touted in the United States as featuring strong political content, Culture Warriors is an exhibition that departs decisively from standard cultural diplomacy practices. Comparing this initiative with two key precedents, the author argues that while this exhibition may have fallen short of its goal to enhance US-Australian diplomatic relations, it should be considered as a useful point of reference for future cultural diplomacy initiatives organised by countries like Australia that continue to grapple with long-term issues linked to race relations.