The Artist is a Thief - Softcover

Gray, Stephen

2.84

25 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1865085332 ISBN 13: 9781865085333

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty LTD, 2008

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Winner of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for 2000. The judges commented on this book as 'impressive, tackles central issues without flinching'.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Synopsis:

This gritty, unflinching philosophical detective novel addresses themes of Aboriginal rights, privilege, and art. Margaret Thatcher Gandarrwuy is an internationally renowned Aboriginal artist whose works command high prices, until a new painting is unveiled. It is discovered slashed, with the words "The artist is a thief" hastily scrawled across it. Jean-Loup Wild, a Melbourne financial consultant, is sent by an Aboriginal civil rights group to investigate and is caught between the art world, with its wealth, fashions, heroes, and sophisticated private language, and the Aboriginal community, with its poverty, social problems, kinship ties, and unchanging traditional law. While operating in these dual worlds, Jean-Loup delves deeply into the layers of Australian society, discovering the prejudices at the bedrock.

About the Author:

STEPHEN GRAY is a writer and law lecturer who has been living in Darwin since 1989. He teaches subjects in copyright law and indigenous peoples and the law, amongst others, and is involved in teaching indigenous students. Since 1991 he has published a number of articles about indigenous legal issues, including several concerning ways in which indigenous people can gain legal protection for their art and culture. His first novel, Lungfish, won the Jessie Litchfield Award for Literature and was published by Northern Territory University Press in 1999.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.