2022 Telstra NATSIAA winner, Margaret Rarru Garrawurra. Image courtesy of MAGNT. Photo: Charlie Bliss,
Returning to an in-person event this year, the announcement of this year’s Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Telstra NATSIAA) winners on Friday night was an especially heartening moment for community and sector alike.
Rarru Garrawurra said: ‘Yolŋu people were watching Makassan people weaving their dhomala over time … then they started to make them. My father picked up the skill as well … I thought about how he made them, my father, and I started remembering. And now I’m making these.’
Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's Senior Contributor, after 12 years in the role as National Visual Arts Editor. She has worked for extended periods in America and Southeast Asia, as gallerist, arts administrator and regional contributing editor for a number of magazines, including Hong Kong based Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. She is an Art Tour leader for the AGNSW Members, and lectures regularly on the state of the arts. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW.
Instagram: fairleygina
