Congratulations to Gunybi Ganambarr, who has won the overall prize, the Telstra Art Award, in the 35th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). Ganambarr, who is from the remote community of Gangan in East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, took out the top prize with a large etching on aluminium titled Buyku.
Ganambarr artist’s statement points out, “Artworks of this nature have multiple layers of metaphor and meaning which give lessons about the connections between an individual and specific pieces of country (both land and sea), as well as the connections between various clans but also explaining the forces that act upon and within the environment and the mechanics of a spirit’s path through existence. The knowledge referred to by this imagery deepens in complexity and secrecy as a person progresses through a life-long learning process.”
This year the Telstra NATSIAA was judged by Kelly Gellatly, director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne; Glenn Iseger-Pilkington, independent curator and art consultant; and Judith Inkamala, artist and senior member of the Hermannsburg Potters. Art Guide Australia’s NATSIAA preview from the July/August print edition offers some insight into the judging process.
The NATSIAA prizes are non-acquisitive. Ganambarr was awarded $50,000 and the judges described his winning work as demonstrating an impressive command of material and technique as well as a deep understanding of ceremony and culture.
NATSIAA also awards $5,000 prizes in six other categories. Peter Mungkuri, from Indulkana, South Australia, won the Telstra General Painting Award with Ngura (Country); the Telstra Works on Paper Award went to Kathy Ngala Inkamala from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, for her watercolour Mount Gillen, Western MacDonnell Ranges; Napuwarri Marawili, from Yilpara, Northern Territory, won the Telstra Bark Painting Award with his work Baraltja Dugong Yathikpa; Wukun Wanambi, from Yirrkala, Northern Territory, who previously won the bark painting award in 1998, took out the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award with his sculpture Destiny; the Telstra Multimedia Award went to Patrina Liyadurrkitj Mununggurr, also from Yirrkala, for her film Dhunupa‘kum nhuna wanda (Straightening your mind); and Matthew Dhamuliya Gurruwiwi, from Warruwi, Northern Territory, won the Telstra Emerging Artist Award with his 3D work Banumbirr (Morning Star poles).
Marcus Schutenko, director of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), where NATSIAA is held, said, “The quality of the artworks in this year’s awards are the strongest I have seen… I expect audiences will feel a significant sense of discovery when they come to the 35th Telstra NATSIAA.”
Works by all of the finalists are on show at MAGNT until 25 November.
The Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
11 August – 25 November
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art is an extraordinary account of the unique art of this continent, published alongside a landmark exhibition at the Potter Museum of Art. Necessary and urgent, it tells the story of Indigenous Australian art; a new art history unlike anything we’ve seen. For Jane O’Sullivan, it’s a remarkable and must-read book.
In a new series of illustrated postcards available as a free gift with purchase only at the Art Guide Bookstore, Oslo Davis takes on classic and contemporary art terms and genres and reimagines what they could be referring to.
With so much to choose from, we’ve rounded up the major summer exhibitions in each capital city, open all summer long. Spanning Yayoi Kusama, Magritte, the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, and many more.
Whether looking for the perfect Christmas gift or searching for a summer read, we have selected some of our favourite art books of 2024—spanning everything from comprehensive gallery monographs to notable exhibition catalogues and self-published artist books.
For Patrick Pound, whose new installation The Museum of Falling is on show now at the City Gallery, the arrangement of objects and images has long blurred the line between fact and fiction, jolting our perception in surprising and unusual ways.
In his latest exhibition at Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Jack Ball challenges the extractive history of the archive while searching for shapes that can articulate the complexity of trans life.
