Gunybi Ganambarr from the community of Gan Gan in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory is the overall winner of the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). Claiming the prestigious Telstra Art Award with his incredibly detailed work ‘Buyku’, Ganambarr explains his work honours his mari (mutlitple grandfathers) of the one Dhalawangu clan, who are represented figuratively in the complicated weave of Buyku. Etched using a drill into aluminium board, the intricate pattern Ganambarr has designed hovers between the geometric and organic. Ganambarr displays a masterful creativity in fusing this intuitive dichotomy of man-made vs. natural, and through this visual metaphor, suggests a new perspective on the contemporary human condition.

Telstra Art Award winner Gunybi Ganambarr (Gan Gan, Northern Territory) with his work Buyku, 2018
The work was judged by an experienced panel: 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. The judges described Buyku as ‘a commanding and powerful work, which illustrates the artist’s deep knowledge of culture and ceremony.’
Ganambarr’s work also makes symbolic reference to the cultural practices and artifacts of the Dhalwangu clan. The piece is said to depict a ceremony in a freshwater creek where two branches of the Dhalwangu clan meet. This ceremony is the creation of Bukyu, which translates to ‘fish trap’. Performed by Yirritja ancestors in an ancient and sacred place, the ceremony occurs in the tense of Yolngu Matha, which has no temporal designation. The act is thus ‘past-present-future’, and the ancestors ‘were-are-will-be’ building Buyku. It is a ceremony that requires and rewards the power of unity and speaks to the innate sense of community in the Dhalwangu clan.

Gunybi Ganambarr, Buyku, 2018, etching on alunimium board, 35th Telstra NATSIAA. Courtesy the artist and Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Gunybi Banambarr expresses the deep connection Dhalwangu culture has to the water in this work. He states that ‘The fish trap (Buyku) identifies the arms of a family tree’ and ‘the waters from Gadarrpa (Blue Mud Bay) to Gulitji come together to form a family connection.’ This family connection represented by the coming together of waters echoes the initial activities of Barama, the great Ancestral Being for the Yirritja moiety. He is said to have travelled from the seaside at Blue Mud Bay, finally emerging from the waters of Gulutji.
The layers of metaphorical and cultural significance Ganambarr has poured into Buyku are stunningly thick. Not only displaying an acute ability to communicate complex cultural meaning visually, Ganambarr has also been highly praised for his innovative approach to traditional art-making processes. Informed by his past working as a carpenter, Ganambarr developed novel and experimental forms of media such as double sided barks, heavily sculpted poles, incised barks and ironwood sculpture. Employing the education he received from senior Yolngu artists as a young man, he has managed to radicalise his cultural practice while remaining within the bounds of community tolerance.

The 35th Telstra NATSIAA winners, judges and Genelle Sharples (Telstra) and Marcus Schutenko (MAGNT Director)
The title of Telstra Art Award winner comes with a $50,000 prize, and Guynbi Ganambarr’s Buyku was selected from over 300 entries and 66 finalists. Buyku will be exhibited at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin until 11 November, along with the winners of all other NATSIAA categories:
Telstra General Painting Award: Peter Mungkuri, Indulkana, SA, Ngura (Country)
Telstra Works on Paper Award: Kathy Inkamala, Mparntwe (Alice Springs), NT, Mount Gillen, Western MacDonnell Ranges
Telstra Bark Painting Award: Napuwarri Marawili, Yilpara, NT, Baraltja Dugong Yathikpa
Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award (sponsored by Telstra): Wukun Wanambi, Yirrkala, NT, Destiny
Telstra Multimedia Award: Patrina Liyadurrkitj Mununnggurr, Yirrkala, NT, ‘Dhunupa’ kum nhuna wanda (Straightening your mind)
Telstra Emerging Artist Award: Matthew Dhamuliya Gurriwiwi, Warruwi, NT, Banumbirr (Morning Star poles)