Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards winners

The Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) provides an opportunity for the rich and diverse stories of our First Nations people to be told, shared, and acknowledged. This year, sixty-three finalists from across Australia have been selected from a total of 221 entries. On Friday 5 August, the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory (MAGNT) announced the 2022 winners who receive a share in a total of $190,000 across seven categories.

Congratulations to Margaret Rarru Garrawurra, Senior Yolŋu artist from Laŋarra, Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory; winner of the 2022 Telstra Art Award $100,000 prize with Dhomala (pandanus sail), 2022. Dhomala (pandanus sail) references both the artist’s cultural identity as well as the historical relationships that endure between Yolŋu people, and the people of modern-day Indonesia. Rarru Garrawurra was born in Galiwin’ku (Elcho Island). Today she lives on her mother’s Country of Laŋarra (Howard Island) and at Yurrwi / Milingimbi, both off the coast of Northeast Arnhem Land.

Margaret Rarru Garrawurra with 2022 Telstra NATSIAA winning work: Dhomala (pandanus sail), 2022, , pandanus, kurrajong, bush dyes, 278 x 245cm. Photograph: Mark Sherwood. Courtesy the artist, Milingimbi Art and Culture, Northern Territory, and Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

“I was with my sisters when I found out about winning. We were very happy. It makes us proud to get first prize,” said Rarru Garrawurra of hearing news about her win. “This is a Makassan dhomala (sail). Yolŋu people were watching Makassan people weaving their dhomala over time . . . then they started to make them. My father picked up the skill as well. He used to make them, Makassan dhomala. I was watching my father making these dhomala. He was making them, and I was watching. I thought about how he made them, my father, and I started remembering. And now I’m making these.”

Adam Worrall, MAGNT Director, adds, “I was captivated by how she has transformed her knowledge of Yolŋu weaving into this iconic Makassan design typology.”

Margaret Rarru Garrawurra. Photograph: Charlie Bliss. Courtesy Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Rarru Garrawurra’s ambitious weaving in Dhomala (pandanus sail) has been rendered using a mixture of natural dyes to achieve deep red, black, orange, and yellow. Dhomala embodies the time-consuming processes of harvesting pandanus and colours, as well as processing materials and weaving. Each of these stages of production is as important as the other.

The 2022 Telstra NATSIAA judging panel, comprised of Myles Russell-Cook and Dr Joanna Barrkman, said: “Rarru Garrawurra has created a monumental sculpture that is both majestic in scale and exacting in technical virtuosity. Hers is a powerful work which reminds us that Yolŋu [have] long been active and intrepid explorers, participating in international trade since well before the arrival of the Europeans.”

Additional winners and judges; comments:

Telstra General Painting Award
Betty Muffler Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) 2021
Indulkana, SA

“Betty Muffler’s Ngangkari Ngura is characterised by a subtle build-up of muted and monochromatic designs. This soft colour palette has become the artist’s signature and is immediately recognisable . . . Muffler’s intuitive mark-making is imbued with story and layers of complex, cultural knowledge. The artist’s deep reverence for Country is palpable. As a painting, Ngangkari Ngura is expertly refined. The repetition of concentric circular designs and linear striations are both elegant and complex.”

Telstra Bark Painting Award
Ms D Yunupiŋu, Yunupiŋu -The Rock 2021
Yirrkala, NT

“The judges offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the late Ms D Yunupiŋu, and to the whole community at Yirrkala. We acknowledge this immense loss that continues to be felt by everyone whose life she touched.

The lady who paints mermaids had a short, but impactful career as a painter. Working in a distinctly lyrical and figurative style, Ms D Yunupiŋu draws on familial iconography to tell the story of her spiritual conception as a mermaid. This slender bark has been whimsically rendered using a combination of naturally occurring ochres in cream, white, and black; as well as synthetic pigments drawn from recycled printer cartridges to create a brilliant and arresting array of fuchsia, pink and magenta tones. The background of the composition is layered and filled with delicate sea creatures and stars, from which four bold mermaids emerge. Positioned in front of an immovable rock, the bodies of the mermaids appear ghost-like, overlapping and entwined with one another.”

Telstra Works on Paper Award
Gary Lee – Nagi, 2022
Garramilla / Darwin, NT

“Nagi emanates tenderness and affection. This poignant and intimate depiction of Lee’s grandfather – Juan (John) Roque Cubillo – is a culminating work in this artist’s career. By reclaiming the historic photographic archive Lee firmly reorients it in the present and personal realm. This work on paper demonstrates a subtle use of mark-making with oil pastel and pencil to adorn the portrait of his grandfather. These embellishments evoke a sensory and tactile quality to the work. Softly coloured gardenias add another sensory component with the suggestion of a scented halo which softly frames the subject.”

Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award (sponsored by Telstra)
Bonnie Burangarra and Freda Ali Wayartja, An-gujechiya 2021
Yilan, NT

“This sophisticated sculpture is an exemplar of contemporary Indigenous fibre practice. It exudes ingenuity, technical excellence and a commitment to the slow-paced multifarious stages of fibre art production. The artists’ command of the natural fibres with which they work is noteworthy, as well as their capacity to collaborate. This an-gujechiya is simultaneously a contemporary work of art and a form of cultural continuity. In selecting this award, the judges acknowledge the importance of fibre production in contemporary Indigenous art practice.”

Telstra Multimedia Award
Jimmy John Thaiday, Beyond the lines 2022
Erub, Torres Strait, QLD

“This powerful and emotive work explores the interconnection between the artist to his Country as exemplified by sea, land, sky and wildlife (in the form of the waumer, the frigate bird).
This meditation on the interconnectedness of life, land and sea examines relationships and correlations between naturally occurring patterns, formations, and movements. Beyond the lines is technically accomplished and masterful. Its refined visual rhythm is carefully paced and combines a compelling use of wide lens with close-up footage. Its thoughtful use of sound is also noteworthy.”

Telstra Emerging Artist Award
Louise Malarvie, Pamarr Yara 2022
Kununurra, WA

“This alluring painting conveys a layered granular texture suggestive of the earth being swept, shifted, and redistributed by the dispersal of rain and floodwater. This subtle yet commanding work illustrates Malarvie’s capacity for strong composition and her deftness of earth pigment application, which inherently contain the muted colours of her Country. Her composition simultaneously conveys nuanced and distinctive features of the land as well as the vastness and immense scale of the Great Sandy Desert.”

The Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards finalist exhibition is on view at MAGNT from 8 August 2022 to 15 January 2023.

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