Aboriginal Dreamtime Fine Art Gallery Manly Corso

Interview with Edwin Safarian Art Gallery Curator

Our Manly: So Edwin, how did you become the owner of the Aboriginal Dreamtime Fine Art Gallery on the Corso. How did that come about?
Edwin Safarian: I’ve been involved with Indigenous Art for around twelve years now. I owned a store on George Street for six years under the same name [Aboriginal Dreamtime Fine Art Gallery] before moving over to Manly. I offered to take over from Elinor [the previous owner, who turns out to be Edwin’s Aunt] and moved in.

OM: So you source all the artwork yourselves?
ES: Yea. Every three to four months I head over to Alice Springs and meet with our artists. Elinor now lives in one of the communities, liaising with artists in that region. We provide all the materials, and basically let the artist get on with it, do what they do best. All our works come with a photo and information about the artist, so people can be sure of its authenticity.

OM: Does most of your art come from around Alice Springs?
ES: Probably the majority comes from this area, however we stock work from artists based all over Australia. We also stock work from local Manly artists.

OM: And what types of art work do you stock?
ES: We have paintings, particularly in dot style, pottery, didgeridoos, jewelery, hand-sewn rugs, sculptures, natural fiber baskets, and various other hand-made art and crafts.

OM: You touched on the matter of authenticity of work. I understand this is a bit of a problem in Australia. How does one know that an artwork is made in Australia and made by an Indigenous Artist?
ES: That’s an interesting question, and is a big issue for us to compete with. As I said, all our work includes information on the artist and is signed for as being genuine Indigenous Australian Art. However, many of the stores you see around stocking ‘Aboriginal Artwork’ actually import it from Indonesia. Some places even stock ‘Aboriginal Rain-sticks’ or ‘Aboriginal Masks’, neither of which were a part of Aboriginal culture.

OM: Surely you can tell if it’s made in Indonesia though. Stores have to mark products with their country of origin, don’t they?
ES: Technically, yes. In practice, many stores don’t.

OM: And the Government hasn’t cracked down on this, or introduced legislation on Indigenous Products?
ES: Not really. They’re the ones allowing these products to be imported. It’s the whole price-point thing. Shops sell more product if it’s cheaper, whether genuine or not. There are a couple of organisations, such as Art Trade www.arttrade.com.au who are trying to provide authenticity stamps, however there is no national standard yet.

OM: So basically, a whole lot of tourists are heading home with their ‘Genuine Australian Aboriginal Didge’ that was actually made in Bali?
ES: I’m afraid so.

OM: Well, thanks for your time Edwin. I’d like to chat more about this at some stage, if that’s possible.
ES: Sure, that’d be great. Thanks.