Illuminating Sacred Value: Indigenous Creativity and the Translation of Religious Value

Abstract

This article examines how the commercial circulation of Indigenous Australian artefacts produces a structured encounter between sacred Indigenous value systems and secular economic frameworks. Drawing on case studies from Papunya Tula, tourist markets, Bali boomerangs, and auction practices, it analyses how works grounded in Dreaming narratives, collective custodianship, and relational responsibilities to Country are translated into commodities assessed through price, provenance, and aesthetic authenticity. Methods include historical analysis of shifting research paradigms, material culture analysis of certificates and intellectual property cases, and review of contemporary museum and tourism practices. Rather than focusing solely on commodification or cultural appropriation, this article examines the mechanisms through which Indigenous forms of value are translated into categories that become legible within museums, markets, and legal systems. The findings suggest that market institutions reward narrow expectations of ‘tradition,’ dislocate works from their custodial contexts, and reconfigure sacred potency as a sellable experience or object. This does not suggest that religious value is wholly displaced; rather, a major difficulty emerges in how it is rendered legible within market systems that operate according to different logics of value. By tracing these processes of translation, the article illuminates how religious value becomes visible, transformed, or obscured within neoliberal marketplaces, highlighting the ongoing ethical and epistemic tensions that arise when sacred creative practices encounter commercial environments.