ABSTRACT
I recently spoke with a friend who runs a digital media program at an Aboriginal Arts Centre in northern Australia. The previous weekend she had attended the announcement of a regional photographic award run by the local Shire Council in which the Art Centre had several entries. On the entry form she had listed the “author” of the works as the Arts Centre-the works entered into the competition were the result of an ongoing collaborative media project run through the arts centre in which a group of Aboriginal arts workers were being trained in digital media production. In the case of the specifi c works submitted for the prize, a team of people had participated in their production process. One person had pressed the shutter button on the camera; others had done the logistical work setting up the social opportunities in which the images were made; yet others downloaded the images onto computers and worked with the facilitator to edit them. The facilitator chose the settings on the camera to suit the light and other conditions, led the process of editing, selected works for exhibit, worked on the logistics of production for display and did the paperwork to submit them for consideration in the photographic award. The works were disqualifi ed from consideration for the award, with organisers stating that authorship of the works had been misleading-the entry forms did not identify individual artists as their makers.
