The Western Australian artist Jukuja Dolly Snell has been announced as the winner of the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art award.
Her bold and powerful work Kurtal was the overall winner, selected from 65 finalists and more than 290 entries. It tells of the spirits and stories of the artist’s country in the Great Sandy Desert, with the black and yellow said to depict body paint used when dancing for rain, while the white stripes represent the small rainclouds that appear in the sky before rain.
The prestigious art prize, worth $50,000, was judged by Tony Ellwood, director of the National Gallery of Victoria; Cara Pinchbeck, curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Western Australian painter Daniel Walbidi, the 2014 winner of the Telstra general painting award.
Pinchbeck said: “Portrayals of water stories are common to desert artists. In this instance Ms Snell has depicted her water story with powerful gestural marks and strong and vibrant colour.”
Born in 1933, Snell has been painting since the 80s. Her first exhibition was held in 1991, with a solo show in Darwin in 2014. Her work is held by National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Victoria, among others.
Other award winners include the Victorian artist Josh Muir, the South Australian artists Betty Kuntiwa Pumani and Robert Fielding and Northern Territorians Rhonda Sharpe and Nonggirrnga Marawili.
The works will be exhibited at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin until 1 November.
