Poster from the Fake Art Harms Culture campaign; image Arts Law Centre of Australia
This week, the Australian Government confirmed that it will commit $150,000 to a pilot program to test digital codes to label authentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander products.
It is the next step in the fight against inauthentic Indigenous art and follows from the success Fake Art Harms Culture campaign, launched in August 2016 and led by the Indigenous Art Code, the Arts Law Centre of Australia and Copyright Agency, and subsequent inquiry by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) into inauthentic products presented to consumers and misleading under Australian Consumer Law.