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The University of Western Australia will this week reveal the world's first chemically protected Indigenous artwork and the latest development in the battle against art fraud.

The technology, developed by UWA PhD student Rachel Green, can ‘encode' particular artists' work with a chemical cocktail, which cannot be entirely removed or seen with the naked eye.

The technique stems from the work of Professor John Watling of UWA's Centre for Forensic Science, who first developed gold fingerprinting which uses a laser to determine the origins of gold by its trace elements.

WHAT :   Media briefing on the world's first chemically protected Indigenous artwork

WHEN: Thursday 25 September, 2008
10.00am (for 10.15am)

WHERE: Berndt Museum of Anthropology, UWA
Ground Floor, Social Sciences Building, Hackett Drive
Entrance No. 1.

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW:

*  Indigenous Artist, Freddie Timms
*  PhD student Rachel Green who has developed the chemical
signature for indigenous artwork.
*  Centre for Forensic Science Professor John Watling, who first
developed the technique and can talk about its broad applications.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES:

* Freddie Timms with his artwork at the Berndt Museum
* Rachel Green will be available to show the equipment used in her
laboratory.

Media references

Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716