Indigenous artist Tony Albert has issued a public call for Australians to donate their 'Aboriginalia'—objects that depict Aboriginal people and designs but were created by non-Indigenous people, often as caricatures or exoticized souvenirs. Over 3,000 items from Albert's own collection, including tea towels, ashtrays, and playing cards, are now on display in his solo exhibition 'Not a Souvenir' at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Sydney, opening on 21 May.
This matters because Albert's work transforms racist kitsch into a powerful critique of colonial stereotypes and the ongoing commodification of Indigenous culture. By inviting the public to contribute their own objects, he turns a personal archive into a collective reckoning, using art to confront Australia's history of racial caricature and to reclaim narratives around Indigenous identity.