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'Keatings'
give focus
The 1993 Creative Artists Fellow
ships — "affectionately known as
Keatings", according to the federal
Minister for the Arts, Wendy Fatin
— reflect the fact that the artists
themselves must apply for them.
There is no suggestion that these
12 are necessarily the finest practi-
tioners of their various artforms in
Australia today. Indeed, as one of
the judges told me, "Another seven
judges could have selected 12 com-
pletely different artists and the list
would have been just as good."
But the awards do have the ca-
pacity to focus national attention
upon artistic excellence and Paul
Keating stressed that excellence was
the key.
"There is nothing democratic
about excellence," he said. "With
these awards we should choose the
best and be happy about it."
Roundly applauded by the arts
politico-bureaucracy, which hung on
his every word, Paul Keating ap-
pears to have accepted the mantle of
Australia's principal arts patron
from the Great Gough.
But excellence is not the only cri-
terion. The judges are also permit-
ted to reward artists who are in
financial need and this played a
part in at least one of the decisions.
As a group, the recipients repre-
sent a smorgasbord — perhaps a
barbecue — of Australian talent. It
is no insult to any of them that
another 12, or even 24, of equal gift
could just as easily have found their
way to the winners' circle.

Real money for true artists

Continued from Page 1

Born in 1933 in Condoblin,
NSW, Gilbert discovered art
and literature when serving a
prison sentence in the mid-
1950s. He won the 1978 Na-
tional Book Council Award
for the oral history, Living
Black, and the 1988 Human
Rights Award for Literature as
the editor and contributor to
Inside Black Australia, an an-
thology of Aboriginal poetry.

He is also the first Aborigi-
ne to exhibit linocuts. His
photographs, oil paintings and
prints are represented in most
major Australian art galleries

and museums.

He plans to write "the first
major philosophical work by
an Aboriginal person".

Geoffrey Lancaster was
born in Dubbo but moved
with his parents to Canberra,
where they still live. He com-
pleted his degree at the Can-
berra School of Music in 1977
and is internationally recog-
nised as a fortepianist. He has
won many national and inter-

national awards, particularly
in the early music field and is a
successful recording artist.

At least six compact discs of
his music are planned for in-
ternational release next year.

"I am delighted and feel
very privileged and it's a won-
derful thing that these awards
are available," he said. "It
shows that, like every other
culturally mature country in
the world, the arts in Australia
are a matter of national pride.

"I think it shows that Aus-
tralia, which is a fountainhead
of talent, has come of age cul-
turally.

"We are a young country.
What we are doing with our
creativity is of the utmost im-
portance in establishing, and
rejoicing in, our cultural iden-
tity. I'm very excited to be part
of this process."

The surprise of the occasion
was Aboriginal artist Emily
Kame Kngwarreye, an elder of
the Alkalkere in the Northern
Territory. She first came to the
attention of non-Aboriginal

people as a member of the
Utopia Women, a group of ba-
tik artists and although she did
not begin to paint — acrylic
on linen — until 1988, she is
regarded as one of Australia's
leading contemporary artists.

Her works feature in major
collections in Australia and
the United States. Born about
1910, she lives in a camp
about 400km north-east of Al-
ice Springs on a station bought
back from its white owner.

Kngwarreye describes her
painting as "the whole lot", a
complete vision of her land —
its physical properties of land-
scape and iconography inter-
woven with spiritual beliefs.

According to art experts,

her most recent works have
almost obliterated structure.
They are "atmospheric land-
scapes possessing enormous
depth and a sense of light and
are unique in capturing the
quality of the desert".

Hers is the first fellowship

awarded where there was no
application.

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