37 Introduction O ne of the great embarrassments confronting the art world in the post- colonial context is the recent history of the exclusion of much of the world’s ‘artistic’ production from the hallowed walls of the fine art galleries of the West (Sally Price’s ‘civilised places’). 1 One might ask: how was it that it was excluded for so long and who is to blame for keeping all this art out? However, rather than attributing blame, it is much more inter- esting to analyse the historical process of its inclusion. The excluded objects became differ- ent after they were included not because their very inclusion magically changed their status, but because the fact of their inclusion reflects changes in Western conceptions of what art is. The process of inclusion has involved three seeing aboriginal art in the gallery HOWARD MORPHY Ramingining Artists, The Aboriginal Memorial 1987-88. Natural pigments on wood, heights from 40 cm to 327 cm. Collection: National Gallery of Australia. Reproduced by kind permission.