SYDNEY.- Acclaimed artist Tony Albert and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia) today launch the Aboriginalia Appeal to coincide with the opening of his major solo exhibition – Tony Albert: Not a Souvenir.

Throughout his career, Albert has sparked conversations about Australian history and identity by reclaiming ‘Aboriginalia’ – mass-produced objects featuring caricatures of Indigenous peoples and cultural designs.

The artist has been collecting Aboriginalia since childhood, a way of trying to understand the world and his place in it.

But from ashtrays to tea towels and boomerangs, these items tell a complicated story that reflects the commodification and misrepresentation of Indigenous peoples and cultures. While some of these items were produced by remarkable Aboriginal entrepreneurs such as Bill Onus and Jimmy Pike, who strategically entered the tourist and souvenir markets on their own terms, most were made by non-Indigenous people.

While many of us might not have bought or made these objects, we’ve been living with them ever since. Their presence lingers in our collective cultural unconscious.

The Aboriginalia Appeal provides a simple pathway to donate found, inherited or collected items that feature inauthentic depictions of Aboriginal peoples and cultural designs created without consent. Just bring your object to a collection point at the MCA Australia. By donating, you join Albert in his ongoing mission to remove and repurpose these objects and celebrate Indigenous survival, truth-telling and cultural pride.

The Aboriginalia Appeal launches alongside the MCA Australia’s major exhibition Tony Albert: Not a Souvenir. Bringing Albert’s work across sculpture, photography, installation, painting and assemblage together with major new commissions, the exhibition demonstrates how even the most difficult materials can be used to help us understand the past and shape the future.

'I’ve been collecting Aboriginalia since I was a child. And if I had my way, I'd love to take the whole lot of it out of circulation. This isn't about guilt; it's about what we do next,' says Albert. 'It’s about taking these objects and turning them into something that celebrates our survival and our vibrancy as the world’s oldest living culture.'

Suzanne Cotter, Director of the MCA Australia, says: 'Tony Albert’s work has always been about the power of the image to both harm and heal. Not a Souvenir is a radical reimagining of Australia's complex histories. Most of all it is a joyful and deeply optimistic exhibition. The Appeal is an invitation for all Australians to play an active role in truth-telling – moving these objects from a place of private discomfort into a public space of creativity and cultural vitality.'