Archibald Prize sitter wants justice over APY artist mistreatment

Topic:Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Iluwanti Ken, known for her large-scale, monochromatic ink-on-paper drawings depicting Tjilpul (eagles), at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2022. (AAP: Bianca De Marchi) Link copiedShareShare articleAward-winning artist and Pitjantjatjara Elder and ngangkari (traditional healer) Iluwanti Ken has called out the mistreatment of the APY Art Centre Collective following allegations of "white hands on black art". In April, Ken — a co-founder of the collective — became a finalist in the Wynne Prize, and was the subject of the portrait that won the Archibald Prize earlier this month. Ken with Richard Lewer, who painted her for the Archibald Prize. (Supplied: AGNSW/Jenni Carter) The APY Art Centre Collective (APYACC) is made up of artists and arts centres from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the far north-west of South Australia. The "white hands on black art" scandal alleged the interference of non-Indigenous assistants in works made by Indigenous artists in the APY Lands, leading to a series of investigations, the postponement of a major exhibition, and the collective's expulsion from the Indigenous Art Code, which governs the relationship between Indigenous artists and art dealers. The allegations prompted several investigations into the collective that made no adverse findings. "How can I be celebrated as one of Australia's most important artists, while also being treated as though I do not belong in my own industry?" Ken wrote in a letter to government and arts industry leaders, dated Friday, May 22. "The APY Art Centre Collective has faced allegations publicly and painfully. We lived through it. Our names, our art centres, and our communities were damaged. "The APY Art Centre Collective is not controversial. It is an extraordinary Aboriginal-led organisation built by Anangu people for Anangu people. It is one of the best and most important things I have helped create in my life. It is a gift to my grandkids, in my community, Amata, and across the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands. It is theirs, for their future." Ken, in November 2025, at the launch of the second edition of the book, Traditional Healers of Central Australia: Ngangkaṟi, which includes the firsthand accounts of about 30 traditional healers. (Supplied: Rhett Hammerton) She added that the Indigenous Art Code had not reinstated the collective despite it being cleared of wrongdoing, and detailed how the collective lost funding and has been excluded from the wider sector. "At the very moment APYACC artists and projects are being celebrated through the Archibald and Wynne Prizes, the National Gallery of Australia, the Biennale of Sydney, and the Adelaide Biennial, the organisation those artists built is being excluded from industry funding and opportunities," Ken wrote. APY Art Centre Collective members say a voluntary code of conduct isn't protecting artists from financial exploitation and misconduct in the industry. Ken ended the letter by requesting a meeting of visual art leaders from across the country, including federal Arts Minister Tony Burke and Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) director Maud Page, to "address these important issues collectively". Earlier this month, the APY Art Centre Collective also called for a federal inquiry into the Indigenous arts sector to examine the conduct of art dealers and the Indigenous Art Code. In 2023, a video published by The Australian appeared to show a non-Indigenous assistant directing the painting of a work about sacred beliefs and laws by Yartiji Young, who denied the assistant had interfered with her work. The story triggered investigations by the South Australian government, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC). The South Australian government review, helmed by a senior lawyer and two First Nations executives, made no findings in December 2023, and referred the allegations to the ACCC and ORIC. In July 2024, the ACCC discontinued its investigation, saying it found nothing to suggest consumer law had been breached. Six months later, in January 2025, ORIC "decided to take no further action", adding "no adverse inference" should be drawn from the end of its investigation. An exhibition of First Nations art from the APY Lands in South Australia brings together 30 large-scale works by nearly 50 artists. The "white hands on black art" story also led to the postponement of the exhibition Ngura Puḻka — Epic Country at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), intended for 2023, which was to feature APY Art Centre Collective Artists. An independent review by the gallery into the "provenance and creation" of 28 paintings concluded there had been no improper interference. The exhibition opened in April 2026 and features artwork by Ken and 48 other artists. Tina Baum, head of First Nations art at NGA, told the ABC in April: "

Archibald Prize sitter wants justice over APY artist mistreatment

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