Art Ark

About

We want people to buy and enjoy Aboriginal Art that really means something. Art is a powerful tool for social and economic enterprise, for social change and the betterment of people's lives.

There is a lot of Aboriginal Art out there that is available through means of exploitation. Art Ark will only ever promote and sell works sourced through community and not-for-profit organisations that work in the best interests of the artists. These organisations, as a general rule, are either community-governed corporations or certified not-for-profits that facilitate the production and sale of artworks. There are around eighty of them scattered throughout some of the most remote parts of Australia and they do a great job of supporting their communities and providing a transparent avenue to access the beautiful artworks being produced.

If you wander into a gallery to ask about a work and they tell you it has been authenticated by the gallery, or another third party, then it requires further investigation. If there's a token picture of the artist holding up the work we'd bet our bottom dollar they haven't been paid properly. Authentication goes beyond proving the artist has painted the work: authentication also needs to define fair payment and rule out exploitation.