ABSTRACT
This chapter considers Aboriginal claims and the relations between family, land and particular artworks, the more a pattern seemed to emerge. Aboriginal people themselves often liken their art to insignia such as title deeds and regalia. Interpreting Aboriginal art as insignia provides a clearer explanation of how the art used in ceremonies comes to have a particular social significance than an explanation of the art in terms of its religious or symbolic meaning, or an explanation of the work as property. The interpretation draws together different aspects of Aboriginal culture including the rules concerning who may produce artworks, and the significance of its appearance in ceremony in relation to the morphology of the painting. The model of Aboriginal art as insignia is consistent with claims that we are dealing with Aboriginal rights, and the idea of a right in insignia does not conflict with the Aboriginal art role of linking people and land in spiritual relationships of custodianship.
