Aboriginal Motifs

Functions and Philosophies

Respect

The rights of Indigenous people to own and control their heritage, including Indigenous images, designs, stories and other cultural expressions, should be respected.Customs and protocols for respect vary widely across the many and diverse communities of Indigenous Australian people. Respecting Indigenous rights to cultural heritage includes the following protocols

• Acknowledgment of country

Aboriginals across Australia share a strong link to country, meaning the totality of life and the spirit of the particular area of land they and their ancestors inhabited. If organising an exhibition, installation or event of local, state or national significance, it is respectful to invite a representative of the traditional owners.

• Public art – acknowledging land

Indigenous seek approval from the Indigenous community for public art-based projects in any particular ‘country’ within Australia.

• Accepting diversity

Diversity of experience and cultural context is strong inside of Indigenous communities. Indigenous visual arts reflect diversity in the mediums, subject matters and cultural settings they may choose while avoiding inappropriate or outdated perspectives and terminology when dealing with cultural groups.
Consent
Consent is necessary for the reproduction of Indigenous visual arts, and if traditional communal designs are included, consent may be required from traditional owners. Consent can be achieved best though some of the following

• Awareness of the way in which their own culture affects how they see an issue
• Understanding and building awareness of the other culture
• Patients in misunderstandings which arise out of cultural differences
• Find the right people within a community to consult.

Consent must be informed. This means that people must be given time and information to consider the requests made. 

Moral Rights and Issues

Many moral rights and issues are risen when dealing with other cultural works, much the same as the rights that we have as designers artists maintain specific rights to protect not only thier artworks but the cultural implications that come with reproduction and reuse of thier artwork. Some rights or issues include:

• Internet sale of art
• Exhibition of Indigenous art
• Displaying art
• Acknowledging the artist
• Using works from collections
• Documenting the exhibition
• Exhibition fees
• Secret and sacred material
• Representation of deceased people
• Copyright

All of these issues and moral rights must be taken into account when dealing with any cultural groups not only those of Aboriginal heritage. we must always act appropriatly when dealing with such issues and remeber that Inappropriate treatment like cutting or destroying a physical artistic work, cropping a reproduction or reproducing in poor quality are not only morally wrong to any person of any cultural background but can create problems for you in the future.