Aboriginal Art Industry Booming

By Staff

ALICE SPRINGS, Australia, July 16 (Reuters) Aboriginal art in Australia is booming and improving the lives of poor black communities, but unscrupulous dealers are ripping off artists and fraud from China and India is undermining the industry.

Artwork of ancient "Dreaming" stories, painted on canvases in the outback dirt and hung from trees to dry, regularly fetch thousands of dollars in urban galleries and sometimes millions.

"Earth\'s Creation" by the late artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye\'s, a vivid painting recounting a "Dreaming" creation myth, set a world record for an aboriginal artwork in May, selling for A1.056 million dollar (US910,345 dollar).

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