Congratulations to Tuppy Ngintja Goodwin for winning the 2022 Hadley’s Art Prize for the work Antara, 2020, a stunningly intricate painting depicting the ancient Maku Tjukurpa (witchetty grub) songline from Mimili.
Goodwin, a senior Pitjantjatjara artist, is the first woman to win the prize since it began in 2017. As winner of Australia’s most lucrative landscape art award—Goodwin receives a $100,000 prize and her work will be added to Hadley’s permanent art collection.
Of her work, Goodwin explains the importance of sharing the Maku Tjukurpa (witchetty grub) songline with her community based in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. “It’s a very old story from a long time ago that I was taught when I moved to Mimili as a young girl. Now I look after it and teach it to the children.”
This year’s judges include Australian Waanyi artist Judy Watson, Dr Mary Knights, senior curator of art at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and Wayne Tunnicliffe, head curator of Australian art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The judges were captivated by Goodwin’s chosen colour palette and dynamic painting techniques. “The work generates movement. You can imagine the artist singing; it’s almost like a performative work,” they explain. “There is a diversity of brushstrokes and mark-making in a distinctive, raw, and energetic way. This powerful painting is full of life.”
Goodwin’s work, along with the other 34 finalists will be on display at Hobart’s Hadley’s Orient Hotel.
Hadley’s Art Prize
Hadley’s Orient Hotel
23 July—Sunday 21
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