Western Australian artist Jukuja Dolly Snell has been announced as the winner of the 2015 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA), Australia’s most prestigious Indigenous art prize. Jukuja was awarded the $50,000 prize for her painting “Kurtal” which depicts her country, its spirits, and stories.According to NATSIAA, the black and yellow in the painting depicts the body paint used when dancing for rain while the white stripes represent the small rainclouds that appear in the sky before rain. “That’s my Kurtal, now! As long as I’ve been born there. That one, Kurtal. Not from another jila, no! One jila,” Jukuja said.The winning work was selected from more than 290 entries and 65 finalists by a judging panel consisting of; 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 Western Australian painter Daniel Walbidi, the 2014 winner of the Telstra General Painting Award.The judging panel said “portrayals of water stories are common to desert artists. In this instance Snell has depicted her water story with powerful gestural marks and strong and vibrant colour.“Jukuja Dolly Snell’s Kurtal is a powerful rendition of her husband’s traditional land and stories from the Great Sandy Desert. Common to desert artists are portrayals of water stories, in this instance Snell has depicted this with powerful gestural marks. Strong and vibrant colour has also been employed alongside watery translucent passages. Adding to the impact of this work is its imposing scale.”
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