Gaypalani Wanambi Wins Australia’s Telstra Art Award
164Aug. 9, 2025
Yolngu artistGaypalani Wanambihas been named the winner of Australia’sTelstra Art Award. The AUD100,000 (USD65,000) prize is the country’s largest and most prestigious First Nations art accolade and is presented annually by theMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory(MAGNT) at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ArtAwards(NATSIAA) in Darwin. The Yirrkala–based Wanambi, who is the daughter of renowned painter and filmmaker Wukun Wanambi (1962–2022), won for her workBurwu, blossom, an assemblage of discarded steel street signs on whose back is etched a plethora of bees and flowers in the pattern of an ancient songline from the Marrakulu clan from which Wanambi is descended, that of Wuyal, the honey hunter.
“Honey is what I am working on,” said Wanambi, speaking Yolngu Matha, in a video statement shown at the award ceremony. “This is what my father taught me to paint. Originally, we worked on the designs of our clan’s saltwater country, I used to help him with that. After that I began to paint the honey from the freshwater country. I showed those designs to [my father], this is when he told me, ‘Great! You will take this design now as your own, and you will paint this when I am no more.’”
Six other awards were presented at the ceremony, each accompanied by an AUD15,000 purse. These were the Telstra General Painting Award, won by Pitjantjatjara artist Iluwanti Ken for her work Walawuru Tjurkpa (Eagle Story); the Telstra Bark Painting Award, given to Gurr-Goni artist Lucy Yarawanga for her work Bawáliba & Ngalyod; the Telstra Work on Paper Award, received by Kaantju/Umpila artist Naomi Hobson for her work Present and Beyond; the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award, won by Kuninjku artist Owen Yalandja for his work Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk; the Telstra Multimedia Award, given to Pitta Pitta artist Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis for her Pitta Pitta (Extracted) and Pitta Pitta (Google’s Gaze); and the Telstra Emerging Artist Award, which went to Djambarrpuyngu artist Sonia Gurrpulan Guyula, for her work Mat.
An exhibition featuring the work of all NATSIAA finalists is on view at MAGNT through January 26, 2026.