NATSIAA Winner Announced!

Harold Joseph Thomas (Bundoo) with his work Tribal Abduction, overall winner of the 2016 Telstra Art Award

Tonight in the Top End, the 2016 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) was presented to Darwin artist Harold Thomas for his work Tribal abduction. The annual event has run since 1984, hosted by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) in Darwin. Major sponsorship from Telstra has helped the continuing success of the award and a AU$50,000 cash prize for the winner. The awards celebrate the achievements and contribution of Indigenous artists across Australia: emerging or established, traditional or contemporary, and in all media. The judging panel that selected the winning works comprised artist Vernon Ah Kee, curator Kimberley Moulton and philanthropist Don Whyte.

The works of the 75 Telstra NATSIAA finalists, including this year's Work on Paper Award-winner Robert Pau and 2016 Bark Painting Award-recipient John Mawurndjul, will be exhibited at MAGNT until 30 October 2016.

Betty Kuntiwa Pumani with her work which won the Telstra General Painting Award

Nicole Monks and her performance piece, We are all animals, which won the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award (sponsored by Telstra)