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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Margaret Thatcher Gandarrwuy is an internationally renowned Aboriginal artist from the remote Mission Hole community in the Northern Territory. Her works command high prices - until a new painting is unveiled. It is discovered slashed, with the words hastily scrawled across it, 'The artist is a thief'. Is the artist a thief? Is she to blame, or is she the victim of somebody else's fraud?
'This is a philosophical detective novel with a difference, set in a world where everyone but the 'detective' knows the rules. Jean-Loup Wild, a Melbourne financial consultant sent by ATSIC to Mission Hole, is caught between the art world, with its wealth, fashions, heroes and sophisticated private language, and the Aboriginal community with its poverty, social problems, kinship ties and unchanging traditional law. If Jean-Loup can find the artist he can begin to find the secret of what has been happening at Mission Hole. He can begin, also, to understand how the layers of that mystery lie deep in the bedrock of Australian society.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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'White Aboriginals' : White Australian Literary Responses to the Challenge of Indigenous Histories
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Imaginary Antipodes : Essays on Contemporary Australian Literature and Culture 2011; (p. 71-86) 'Chapter 4 examines the phenomenon of the 'white Aboriginal,' a putative figure of cultural synthesis as proclaimed in Germaine Greer's maverick manifesto Whitefella Jump Up (2003). However, in texts such as Patrick White's A Fringe of Leaves (1976) and David Malouf's Remembering Babylon (1993), Liam Davison's The White Woman (1994), and Stephen Gray's The Artist is a Thief (2001), the 'white Aborigine' figure progressively modulates into a sign of appropriation rather than of reconciliation.' (From author's introduction, 12)
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The Invisible Gift
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: Australian Author , December vol. 42 no. 3 2010; (p. 12-15) 'Mentoring involves teaching but requires something more strange and intimate than just passing on knowledge. Catherine Keenan talks to writers about the people who lifted them up when they were young'. (p12) -
Reconciling Accounts : An Analysis of Stephen Gray's The Artist Is a Thief
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Pain of Unbelonging : Alienation and Identity in Australasian Literature 2007; (p. 75-104) -
The Artist is a Thief
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 6 no. 1 2002;
— Review of The Artist Is a Thief 2001 single work novel -
Artful Mystery
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 22 December 2001; (p. 17)
— Review of The Artist Is a Thief 2001 single work novel
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The Artist is a Thief
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 6 no. 1 2002;
— Review of The Artist Is a Thief 2001 single work novel -
Artful Pursuit in Conflicting Cultures
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 October 2001; (p. 10, 11)
— Review of The Artist Is a Thief 2001 single work novel -
Stolen Moments
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 23 October vol. 119 no. 6298 2001; (p. 98)
— Review of The Artist Is a Thief 2001 single work novel -
Of Indigenous Art and Charlatans
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 3 November 2001; (p. 5)
— Review of The Artist Is a Thief 2001 single work novel -
A Paradox at the Heart of a Remote Reality
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 10 November 2001; (p. 9)
— Review of The Artist Is a Thief 2001 single work novel -
Reconciling Accounts : An Analysis of Stephen Gray's The Artist Is a Thief
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Pain of Unbelonging : Alienation and Identity in Australasian Literature 2007; (p. 75-104) -
The Invisible Gift
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: Australian Author , December vol. 42 no. 3 2010; (p. 12-15) 'Mentoring involves teaching but requires something more strange and intimate than just passing on knowledge. Catherine Keenan talks to writers about the people who lifted them up when they were young'. (p12) -
'White Aboriginals' : White Australian Literary Responses to the Challenge of Indigenous Histories
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Imaginary Antipodes : Essays on Contemporary Australian Literature and Culture 2011; (p. 71-86) 'Chapter 4 examines the phenomenon of the 'white Aboriginal,' a putative figure of cultural synthesis as proclaimed in Germaine Greer's maverick manifesto Whitefella Jump Up (2003). However, in texts such as Patrick White's A Fringe of Leaves (1976) and David Malouf's Remembering Babylon (1993), Liam Davison's The White Woman (1994), and Stephen Gray's The Artist is a Thief (2001), the 'white Aborigine' figure progressively modulates into a sign of appropriation rather than of reconciliation.' (From author's introduction, 12)
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A White Voice Explores Indigenous Issues
2001
single work
biography
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 23 December 2001; (p. 45)
Awards
- 2003 nominated for shortlisting International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
- 2002 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
- 2000 winner The Australian / Vogel National Literary Award (for an unpublished manuscript)
- Northern Territory,