Australia’s Aboriginal Art market has been trounced by a combination of factors including changes in the laws governing retirement accounts that drastically reduced the money devoted to art investment in the nation. Sotheby’s Australia just held a lackluster Aboriginal sale but The Australian reports that some of the remote arts centers are thriving in still:

Last year, the centre’s 82 artists earned $1.2 million for their work, up from $391,000 in 2006. Tjala Arts chairman Frank Young said the centre was strong “because of the hard work of the old people.

“We know other Aboriginal artists are taking a hit in income at the moment, (but) Tjala Arts is still getting stronger with the money story, but also in the number of artists, and in the number of jobs it holds for Amata,” he said. […]

“Government talks about closing the gap — this is what the art centre has been doing for Aboriginal people for a long time and what it does every day; by creating jobs and also by keeping Anangu strong in culture,” he said.