35th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards
Now in its 35th year, the country’s most prestigious Indigenous art awards celebrate the richness and diversity of contemporary creative practice by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.
By: Sarah Hinder
‘Banumbirr’ (Morning Star poles), Matthew Dhamuliya Gurruwiwi, Telstra Emerging Artist Award Winner
Since 1984, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) has played host to the best works of contemporary Australian Indigenous art, as part of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). Wide-ranging in form and content, NATSIAA demonstrates the complexity and diversity of Indigenous art.
This year’s Awards welcomed more than 300 individual artist entrants — from bark painting to multimedia to stoneware and porcelain — from every state in Australia, with the best 66 entrants selected for this year’s NATSIAA exhibition running at MAGNT from August 11 to November 11. From intimate sculptural pieces to enormous and striking paintings, an exploration of the exhibition takes visitors on a visceral journey throughout Aboriginal Australia.
Selected by an experienced judging panel, with a focus on unearthing new artistic developments within contemporary Aboriginal arts, the winners for each eight individual categories were announced in August, receiving a collective $80,000 to be put toward individual career development.
Each year sees an increasing diversity of art and media forms, partly in response to the adoption of new category awards including the Telstra Multimedia Award and the Telstra Emerging Artist Award in 2017.
‘Buyku’, Gunybi Ganambarr, 2018 Telstra Art Award Winner
“This year’s Awards attracted entries of an extraordinary artistic calibre, from diverse geographic regions, highlighting the continuing growth of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts sector,” says Luke Scholes, MAGNT Curator of Aboriginal Art.
Described by the judges as a powerful and commanding work, this year’s overall winner is remote Top End artist Gunybi Ganambarr, from the community of Gan Gan in East Arnhem Land. His work Buyku, involving intricate large-scale etching on aluminium board, is indicative of Ganambarr’s deep knowledge of culture and ceremony.
Ganambarr explains that the differing directions and flow in the work are representative of multiple grandfathers (Mari) from the one Dhalwangu clan. The arms come together to form a fish trap (Buyku) as seen in the ceremony performed by his Yirritja ancestors. The waters from Gadarrpa to Gulutji come together to form a family connection.
‘Buyku’, Gunybi Ganambarr, 2018 Telstra Art Award Winner
‘Ngura’ (Country), Peter Mungkuri, Telstra General Painting Award Winner
“Great work has to sustain you, it has to call you back,” says Kelly Gellatly, Director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne — one of NATSIAA 2018’s three judges. “And we found ourselves circling through the space and returning time and time again to [Ganambarr’s] work. It’s both the command of scale and the kind of rigour within that scale; the incredible command of materials, but also the beautiful movement across the work, the sense that you have the flow of water and his grandfathers come together in that image.”
Winner of the Telstra General Painting Award, Peter Mungkuri’s Ngura (Country) exudes energy and flowing movement, both quietly tender and powerful. Of his work Mungkuri explains, “This is my painting about the country where I was born. It was traditional way, none of us had any clothes, we’d never seen houses, we lived in the bush, slept in the warm sand and we lived on the bush tucker. That place is where it all started. This country is my home. We grew up a little bit over there, a little bit near Mimili, and over at Amarouna. I’ve got good knowledge of horses, stockmen, and the country. These things, everything, is my memory — my knowledge, I like painting my country, I like to paint the memories of my country.”
Attracting more than 65,000 visitors each year, NATSIAA is aptly described as a diversity showcase, with a purpose to reveal to audiences the depth and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artistic practice and art making. The Awards provide a platform for Indigenous art and for Indigenous artists to aspire to.
visit magnt.net.au/natsiaa to see more artwork from the 35th natsiaa.
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