source: AAP

Indigenous artist Tony Albert has launched the annual Aboriginalia Appeal to coincide with the opening of his solo exhibition Not a Souvenir.

Some would call it kitsch but Tony Albert instead coined the phrase Aboriginalia.

Think ashtrays, cups, plates, tea towels, figurines and other bric-a-brac that has long circulated in Australian homes and op shops.

It’s often produced by non-Indigenous Australians but almost always carries some form of Indigenous caricature.

It’s also the stuff Albert, 45, began reclaiming popular examples of as a kid.

Grounded in a longstanding practice of collecting found material, the Girramay, Yidinji and Kuku-Yalanji artist is said to have gone about this pastime with “wit, beauty and force”.

“His assemblages … transform the visual language of colonisation, turning objects of prejudice into symbols of resistance, resilience and pride.”

The description of this process comes from the presentation of Tony Albert: Not a Souvenir, this winter’s major exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

One of Australia’s leading First Nations artists in his own right, Albert says it’s time for Indigenous creatives to be front and centre in the art world.

“There’s a global shift, which is really coming out of Australia,” he told AAP recently.

“All eyes are on us and it’s an incredible moment in time to shine a spotlight on Indigenous art.”

That said, he is also adamant that it is time for Indigenous kitsch to be called out for what it is.

The Aboriginalia Appeal invites Australians to donate to the museum, objects featuring inauthentic representations of Aboriginal people and cultures, often created without consent.

Albert’s own offering brings together more than 150 works from public and private collections across the country.

The exhibition scans sculpture, photography, installation and assemblage, and takes as an inspiration The Rocks, which is both a significant early colonial site and a latter-day tourism and souvenir precinct.

It is also the Museum of Contemporary Art’s local neighbourhood.

“This isn’t about guilt; it’s about what we do next,” Albert says.

Donated items will become part of his evolving artistic practice, along with an archive of personal stories from those who once owned them.

Tony Albert: Not a Souvenir opened on Thursday and runs until mid-October.