Rattling Spears: A History of Indigenous Australian Art is the latest book by Professor Ian McLean, whose research and publishing in this field has been pioneering.

About Rattling Spears: “Large, bold and colourful, Indigenous Australian art has impressed itself on the contemporary imagination. But it is controversial, dividing the stakeholders from those who smell a scam. Whether the artists are victims or victors, there is no denying their impact in the media and on the art world and collectors worldwide. How did it become the most successful Indigenous art in the world? How did its artists escape the ethnographic and souvenir markets to become players in an art world from which they had been barred?”

To be launched by Ian McLean (Senior Research Professor of Contemporary Art, University of Wollongong), one of Australia’s leading art historians and the first to write broadly and inclusively about the place of Aboriginal art in contemporary Australian art theory and practice.

This event will be followed by the launch of Judy Watson‘s the names of places, which inaugurates our Green Screen Program at the IMA. Details here.