Marri Ngarr artist Ryan Presley wins prestigious $100,000 Telstra Art Award

The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) has announced the winners of the 2026 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), celebrating the depth and diversity of Indigenous creative expression. According to the Koori Mail, Marri Ngarr artist Ryan Presley has claimed the prestigious $100,000 Telstra Art Award for his oil painting, 'Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed'. Presley, who was born in Mparntwe/Alice Springs and is currently based on Yugambeh Country in Queensland, created a work that judges noted for its technical precision and conceptual rigour. The painting depicts a subject resting on a precarious edge between rippling waters and a distant bushfire. Presley told the Koori Mail he intended to balance darkness and an ominous feel with qualities of light, beauty, and hope to allow the audience to engage easily with the piece. Several other Indigenous artists were recognized in specific categories, each receiving $15,000. Jenna Mayilema Lee, a Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman, and KarraJarri artist, won the Telstra Work on Paper Award for 'Taking back taken'. Her work consists of six dillybags (danala) constructed from maps collected from the British Museum as a form of conceptual restitution. In the General Painting category, Western Arranda artist Vanessa Inkamala was honoured for 'Arrkurla Nukala/Lyaarta Ntema', a piece reflecting the changes to her homeland in the West MacDonnell Ranges. Additionally, Yolŋu artist Barayuwa Munuŋgurr took home the Telstra Bark Painting Award for 'The hidden reef at Yarrinya'. MAGNT director Adam Worrall praised the winners, stating that Presley’s monumental work stood out in a year of exceptional quality. The awards, curated by Dr Shannon Brett, remain a vital celebration of Australia's First Peoples' cultures.