A primer of restrictions on picture‐taking in traditional areas of aboriginal Australia

Abstract

Australian Aborigines have sometimes concluded that the camera is a dangerous magical instrument capable of stealing some essential part of a human being, or of causing illness or death. Thus cultural values may be compromised by unauthorised display or visual transmission of secret materials, by violation of mortuary restrictions, by other invasions of privacy, or by paternalistic rhetoric which makes Aborigines appear exotic. The paper argues for a co‐operative photography to avoid most of these difficulties.