Melbourne is home to one of the largest international Greek and Greek-Cypriot
communities, since their major migration movement in the 1960s. Having had
decades of homemaking in this city, this diaspora has established various methods
of ensuring community connection and maintenance of traditional culture. As a
product of this, contemporary artists who belong to this group are creating and
presenting creative material which builds upon their cultural traditions. This thesis
investigates how artists and curators are engaging in this identity-based and ethnic
art phenomenon, with a particular focus on what this means in terms of the colonial
structure of Australia.

Creating art with an identity-based or ethnic approach, and with explicit references to
cultural traditions which originated in bygone times, is often considered at odds with
the abstract focus of the contemporary art movement. Additionally, creating from the
ambiguous position of a Greek and/or Greek-Cypriot person poses greater questions
of representation. Within the time of settlement in Australia, through assimilation and
gradual social progress, this group has gained many of the social and material
privileges of the dominant ‘white Australian’ demographic. How this is or is not
reflected in these artists’ and curators’ processes is of interest, as is the degree to
which they incorporate the histories and traditions of their chosen homeland in this.

In an analysis of imagery from four exhibition case studies, and interviews with some
of the artists and curators, this thesis will reflect on the intersection, and lack thereof,
of ethnic and identity-based arts and the colonial conditions of Australia. In this, the
tensions of creating these art forms within a colonial context will be revealed. The
discussion in this thesis will investigate whether these considerations will enrich the
study and presentation of this material