Dislocation, Exploration, Invigoration: Exploring the Cross-cultural Intersection of Art and Friendship

ABSTRACT If love can blind, are there are also scenarios in which relationality invokes clarity of knowledge and closeness of hearing? In this collaborative piece, Bardi artist and weaver Juanita Mulholland and researcher Sarah Bacaller explore the intersection between friendship and Australian Indigenous art forms. They reflect on the development and ethos of Juanita’s artistic practice, as it pertains to her sense of Indigenous identity and selfhood, including in the context of dislocation and loss. The dialogue is prefaced by reflections on recent criticism by Fisher [2012. The Art/Ethnography Binary: Post-Colonial Tensions Within the Field of Australian Aboriginal Art. Cultural Sociology, 6 (2), 251–270] on the ethnography–art binary in approaches to interpreting Australian Indigenous art in its diverse and varied forms. By exploring the dangers inherent in both objectivist (‘ethographic’) and subjectivist (art ‘on its own terms’) approaches, and building on the work of Biddle and Stefanoff [2015. What is Same but Different and why Does it Matter? Cultural Studies Review, 21 (1), 97–120], the authors explore how ethical relationality and connection can lead to a fuller understanding and appreciation of artworks and their artists, especially in relation to non-Indigenous engagement with Australian Indigenous artistry.