Inclusive Indigenous Australian voices in the semiotic landscape of the National Museum of Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Inclusive and broad research stresses the need for museums to be socially responsible in the representation of the various communities it represents. This article examines the curator’s representation of source communities presented in two exhibitions in the First Australians Galleries at the National Museum of Australia – investigated through the concepts of multi-voicedness, semiotic landscape, and agency. The qualitative methodologies applied include semi-structured interviews with curators, and image- and document-based analyses. Findings revealed that the exhibition’s semiotic landscape was strongly framed by the collaboration of voices between museum curators and Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander communities. The curators emphasized the moral value of their work in consulting with Indigenous communities; this suggests that the curators have positioned themselves as change agents, which empowers the source communities as well as strengthens the museum’s standing within those communities. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT