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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-08-27 Daily Xml
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National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (15:11): Thank you, Mr President. I couldn't hear over all of that racket. My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Will the minister please inform the council about the excellent representation of South Australian artists at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for his question and for his long-running interest in local Aboriginal art. The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAAs), otherwise known by their long-running sponsor's name 'the Telstras', are the most prestigious national awards for First Nations art and are also the longest running, being established in 1984.

The NATSIAAs celebrate all forms of art media, many of which have their own specific categories such as 3D art and bark painting. The NATSIAAs form part of the wider Darwin Festival, with artists coming together from all over the country to celebrate achievement. South Australia has a long and proud history of being very well represented at these awards.

Last year, Pukatja artist Anne Thompson took out the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award for her work Anangu History, which depicted the story of the modernisation of the landscape and the sometimes negative impact of modern life on Anne's family and community. In 2022, Betty Muffler from Iwantja Arts took out the General Painting Award for her work Ngangkari Ngura or Healing Country; and from 2020 to 2022, South Australia had a clean sweep of the People's Choice Award, with Nyunmiti Burton, Sally Scales and Juanella McKenzie respectively taking out the award in each of these years.

This year, I was very proud to see that up and coming Mimili artist Josina Purmani took out the coveted Emerging Artist Award. Josina's late mother, Ngupulya Pumani, and her late grandmother, Kunmanara Pumani, were two of the founders of Mimili Maku Arts. Josina credits them with teaching her about art, cultural leadership and connection to country.

Josina won the award for her work Maralinga, a sculpted clay pot which tells the story of nuclear testing in South Australia. Josina says the work depicts the tragedy of Maralinga: 'black smoke came to our Country, and infected all my family'. It is simple, stunning and moving. Josina's award-winning work is doubly impressive, given that it was her first work with ceramics after working with paint for the last 15 years.

It was only last week that I had the pleasure of spending time with Josina and looking at some of her works here in Adelaide. A very big congratulations to Josina and all the award winners at this year's NATSIAAs. I very much look forward to seeing what work Josina does in the future and the achievements of all South Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists at the NATSIAAs in the future.

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