NATSIAA 2026: Ryan Presley wins $100,000 at National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards
Artist Ryan Presley has won the $100,000 Telstra Art Award at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. His winning painting, 'Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed,' uses Renaissance-style imagery to critique colonial history and contemporary social issues.
Why it matters
The NATSIAAs are a major cultural event that highlights the significance of Indigenous art in the national and global contemporary art dialogue.
Topic: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art
Ryan Presley said he wasn't expecting to win at the NATSIAAs: "It's a big surprise and a huge affirmation." ( ABC News: Marcus Kennedy )
Link copied Share Share article Ryan Presley, a Marri Ngarr artist from Alice Springs, has taken out the $100,000 top prize at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAAs), the longest-running and most prestigious award for Indigenous artists.
Presley — who also has Scandinavian ancestry — won the Telstra Art Award for his oil painting, Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed, a painting of a reclining Indigenous man between his dog and a hunting rifle, which riffs on Renaissance artworks.
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Multimedia Award Colin Heenan-Puruntatameri
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