ABSTRACT
The appropriation of art may be seen as a vandalism of insignia, and because insignia is a necessary condition for the maintenance of collective entities, the vandalism of a collective entity. A relation between the value of an Aboriginal art object and that of an Aboriginal collective entity can be found in the relation between the value of an insignia and the value of the entity of which it is the insignia. Health problems, drug abuse, unemployment, the breaking-up of families and systematic racism are all contributing to the destruction of Aboriginal communities and societies. Blindness to the status of Aboriginal art as insignia is accompanied by blindness to the existence of the group for which an image is the insignia. Perversely, wilful destruction of Aboriginal art, recognised as insignia, would show more respect to Aboriginal groups and the value art has for them than appropriation. Groups already have collective legal rights over their insignia.
