Should non-Indigenous people buy, wear Indigenous art? Creators say it depends

Indigenous artists.Indigenous art is increasingly being copied, reproduced or stolen — earlier this year charges were laid in an alleged art fraud ring against a group accused of making and selling pieces of art under the name of Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau.It’s an issue Sen.

Patricia Bovey has raised in the House of Commons  advocating for updates to copyright laws to further protect authentic Indigenous art.Bovey told Global News that the issue is complex and won’t be solved by one department. “I am concerned about artists having means of claiming their own intellectual rights … (and that) very few of them are in a position to be able to fight for their intellectual rights legally.”She’s looking into things like potential funds to support artists to claim copyright; a way to authenticate work before it leaves the studio; and whether Canada should adopt acts from the United States — like the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990.“I can’t bear the thought of an artist working laboriously for years to develop their art form and their imagery and their iconography to have it stolen and fabricated and plastic somewhere else in the world,” said Bovey.But the conversation doesn’t just involve work by big names.

With questions around authenticity rising, many non-Indigenous folks have begun to tread carefully and question where to buy or whether they should be buying.Indigenous artists, especially beadworkers, say they’re regularly asked these questions.“My response is always ‘Absolutely, it’s OK,'” said Nicole Geary a registered member of Sahtu Dene and Métis of Norman Wells and the artist behind Beaded Legacy.“One of the biggest goals of colonization was to completely wipe out Indigenous culture so whenever I see.