A Transformative Commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture

Edwards’ initial fieldwork documenting rock art and stone tools evolved into a profound recognition of Aboriginal heritage as a "continuing, living culture".

This paradigm shift defined his career, particularly during his time as the Founding Director of the Aboriginal Arts Board (AAB), where he ensured Indigenous voices and agency were paramount.

He was instrumental in providing government support for First Nations arts, leading initiatives like copyright protection and establishing art centers within communities.

His promotion of Aboriginal art overseas, dubbed the "Inroads offshore" program, was considered one of the "most subtle and brilliant marketing exercises" in Australian art history, transforming how the world perceived works like the Papunya Tula paintings.

" He was Director of the AAB during a period which saw the greatest expansion of Government support for Indigenous arts ever. Many of the early projects and causes he helped initiate, champion, and support have formed the backbone of First Nations arts and cultural support at Council since.

Such projects include copyright in Indigenous art works, the establishment and ongoing support of arts centres within communities, Australian involvement in the Festival of Pacific Arts, and the commissioning, funding and delivery of major overseas tours of collections of Aboriginal art.

Indeed, for many, Edwards and his strong, all-Indigenous Board that was balanced between remote and urban First Nations artists, emerged as the saviours of the nascent Aboriginal art movement at Papunya. For while boards and canvases were pouring out from the twenty-odd 'Painting Men' in the township, 70% of them were ending up in the AAB's storerooms. As no local Gallery would accept them as art, the only answer was international exposure. By the early 1980's there had been twenty exhibitions in 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America and the Pacific Islands.

In retrospect, Edwards claimed that the program was perhaps "one of the most subtle and brilliant marketing exercises" in the history of Australian art.

He also created a longer-term boon in the establishment of the Aboriginal Artists Agency - still going. This pursues copyright for First Nations artists where images of their work appear in books, catalogues, films and TV."

From: A Significant Loss - Bob Edwards 1930 - 2023 Aboriginal Art Directory

"...becoming the inaugural Director of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council in 1975. Edwards was working with an all-Indigenous board, chaired by great artists, first Dick Roughsey and then Wandjuk Marika, often meeting on Country.

For this was the time when First Nations first discovered their voice, as Gough Whitlam had proclaimed  in 1973: " The decision to place control for the arts in the hands of Aboriginals is intended to stimulate indigenous Australian arts and lead to the preservation of many art forms almost lost since the settlement of Australia by Europeans."

But it took their non-Indigenous director to work out what to do with the piles of boards and canvases flowing out of Papunya. As no domestic gallery would accept them as art, the only answer seemed to be international exhibitions. By the early 1980's  the board had initiated twenty exhibitions in 40 countries...

For the works weren't seen as ethnography. Paintings by Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri in New Mexico were described by the New York Times as "complex pointillist abstractions that would look right at home in New York's Museum of Modern Art."

Edwards had chosen them for their aesthetic appeal. And it was estimated that more than 10 million people visited those exhibitions staged around the world."

From: Art facilitator who took recognition of Indigenous culture to a new level. Jeremy Eccles, The Sydney Morning Herald June 13 2023