The sale of two busts by Benjamin Law that were meant to be the star lots in Sotheby’s sale today were withdrawn after protests widened. Australia’s ABC News Online covers the protests and the broader controversy. (Click on the audio player below to hear ABC’s report.)

Here’s the Sydney Morning Herald describing the protest:

A GROUP of protesters chanting “Sotheby’s, Sotheby’s leave them alone, let us take our ancestors home” assailed art collectors arriving at an auction of “Important Australian Art” in suburban Melbourne last night. Five protesters led by two staff from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre were demonstrating

And here is ABC News explaining their views:

The centre’s legal director Michael Mansell said earlier today the artworks should not be used simply to make money. “These images are held up to perpetuate the racist myth that unless you were a so-called ‘full blood’, you weren’t a real Aboriginal,” he said. “These busts should be returned to the Aboriginal community in Tasmania without any conditions so that the Aboriginal people are no longer hurt by the use of the images.”

Aboriginal Busts Withdrawn from Sale

Bust Up: Artworks Withdrawn from Sale (ABC Online)

Sotheby’s Hit by Protestors Over ‘Racist’ Busts (Sydney Morning Herald)