On Friday August 9, the winners of the 2024 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award were announced. The 41st annual award saw 72 finalists chosen from a total of 238 entries from across the country.
A panel of three judges – cultural adviser Putuparri Tom Lawford, curator Keith Munro and Katina Davidson – chose the winners.
Noli Rictor, a Pitjantjatjara artist from Tjuntjuntjara in Western Australia, took out the $100,000 main prize, winning the Telstra Art award for his piece Kamanti. The work depicts the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa, a Dreaming story that follows a father-son pair of water serpents as they journey across the Spinifex Lands. The painting brings the spiritual land to life with strong use of colour and form.
Rictor was born in 1969 in the Great Victoria Desert, not far from Maralinga (where the UK performed nuclear tests in the 1950s and ’60s). In 1986, Rictor and his family were convinced by relatives to move to the Yakadunya settlement to avoid nuclear contamination.
As well as Rictor, six category winners were announced, each taking home a prize of $15,000. Broome artist Lydia Balbal won the General Painting Award for a piece painted on a car bonnet. The Bark Painting Award was given to Northern Territory artist Wurrandan Marawili. The Work on Paper award was given to Brisbane-based artist Shannon Brett. Brett’s piece An Australian Landscape aimed to reframe discussions of racism.
The Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award was awarded to Obed Namirrkki’s piece Kunkurra. The prize for multimedia art was given to Natalie Davey, who lives in Fitzroy Crossing and produced a 10-minute video of a flooding event. The Emerging Artist Award was given to South Australian artist Josina Pumani, who made a clay pot depicting the story of Maralinga.
The NATSIAA exhibition runs until January 27, 2025 at Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin.
