2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, with an outstanding collection of works entered and now on display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Sponsored by Telstra since 1992, the Award was established in 1984, with the aim of recognising the important contribution made by Indigenous artists and promoting appreciation and understanding of the quality and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art from regional and urban based Indigenous artists throughout Australia, working in traditional and contemporary media. The Award is an important showcase for both established and emerging artists and has come to be regarded as one of the premier national events in the Australian Indigenous art calendar, attracting a range of Indigenous artists from all parts of the country with about 100 works selected each year from around 300 entries. The diversity and style of work submitted each year reflects the changing face of contemporary Aboriginal art practice.
The 2013 Telstra Award of $40,000 was received by Jenni Kemarre Martiniello for her work Golden Brown Reeds Fish Trap, described by the judges as “a new vehicle for Aboriginal cultural expression, successfully combining contemporary ideas and forms. The work’s sophistication, elegance and mastery of the medium made it the standout of the exhibition.”
The other winners in this year’s Awards were: Mavis Ngallametta for the Telstra General Painting Award, Malaluba Gumana for the Telstra Bark Painting Award, Teho Ropeyarn for the Telsta Work on Paper Award, Rhonda Sharpe for the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award (sponsored by Telstra, and Raymond Zada for the Telstra New Media Award.
Pictured above is Yalgamunken #3 by Mavis Ngallametta, winner of the Telstra General Painting Award. Using traditional clays and ochres, Ngallametta captures the intensity of her community life and country in a unique and vibrant style that marries abstraction with elements of figuration. On first glance seemingly abstract, her paintings are in fact both physical and emotional maps of her country. Often referencing cultural knowledge, Ngallametta has developed a painterly voice that joins an ancestral past with the present, stretching boundaries and blurring the distinction between abstraction, art brut, landscape art and story-telling.
The Award exhibition will be on view to the public until Sunday November 10 at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), with Curators Talks 12 September and 9 October at 11am.
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT)
Until 10 November, 2013
Mavis Ngallametta, Yalgamunken #3, 2013, natural ochres and charcoal with acrylic binders on linen, 200 x 298cm
