Winners of the Australia Council’s National Indigenous Arts Awards have been announced
The National Indigenous Art Awards are given annually to celebrate excellence in Indigenous arts. There are four awards to be won and these include the prestigious Red Ochre Award, two Fellowships and the Dreaming Award.
This year, the Red Ochre, Australia’s most esteemed peer-assessed award for an Indigenous artist was awarded to visual artist Hector Tjupuru Burton. Awarded since 1993, the $50,000 prize acknowledges an artists’ outstanding contribution and lifetime achievement to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts at a national and international level.
The fellowships have been awarded to Renowned Melbourne musicians Bart Willoughby and Dave Arden. This award provides $45,000 a year for two years to create a major project.
Tyrone Sheather has received the The Dreaming Award which provides $20,000 to a young artist aged 18-26 to create a major body of work through mentoring or partnerships.
Australia Council Chair Rupert Myer AM explained that the annual awards give the highest acknowledgement to the outstanding achievements of Australia’s Indigenous artists. “The awards draw attention to the significant contribution Indigenous artists make to the artistic vibrancy and cultural life of Australia,” Mr Myer said.
Australia Council Board Director Lee-Ann Buckskin said Hector Tjupuru Burton was chosen as this year’s Red Ochre Award recipient for his remarkable work as a visual artist and cultural leader. “Mr Burton, a senior Pitjantjatjara man, started painting on canvas in October 2003 after a Men’s Painting Room was established to encourage men to tell and paint their stories,” Ms Buckskin explained; “Since this life-changing event, Mr Burton has revived ceremonies and documented and recorded stories both north and south of Amata, including the area associated with Uluru. “He paints the Creation Time story of the caterpillars, the Anumara, which tells a story about kinship groups.”
These valuable awards will assist with the development of each artist’s ideas and will bring to reality their chosen creations for each project.
Winners: L-R Bart Willoughby, Tyrone Sheather, Hector Burton and Dave Arden.
