Artist Wins $100,000 Prize for Painting Inspired by Renaissance Art and George Orwell

The topic is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

It happened on Friday, 7 August 2026, at 6:00 pm

Ryan Presley said he was surprised to win the award, calling it a big surprise and a huge affirmation

Ryan Presley, an artist from Alice Springs, won the $100,000 top prize at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards for his oil painting, Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed

The painting shows an Indigenous man between his dog and a hunting rifle, inspired by Renaissance artworks

Here is the full list of winners

Ryan Presley won the Telstra Art Award

Vanessa Inkamala won the General Painting Award

Jenna Mayilema Lee won the Work on Paper Award

Barayuwa Munuŋgurr won the Bark Painting Award

Napuwarri Marawili won the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award

Guruwuy Murrinyina won the Emerging Artist Award

Colin Heenan-Puruntatameri won the Multimedia Award

The painting is 1.8 by 1.5 meters and talks about controlling the past, present, and future, inspired by a quote from George Orwell's 1984

Presley described his win as daunting and a great honor, still trying to take it in

He said it took him a while to understand the win

The painting represents sacred spaces and chamber architecture, which can be a sanctuary or a prison

Presley wants to combine these ideas in his work

He talks about young people being jailed at alarming rates, which is part of the idea behind the painting

Presley has been an artist for about 20 years, graduating from Griffith University's contemporary Australian Indigenous art program in 2009

He has exhibited at several museums, including the Samstag Museum of Art and the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane

Presley hopes the win means he can keep making art for the next 20 years

There are many artworks among the finalists for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

This year's awards were judged by Kokatha and Nukunu artist Yhonnie Scarce, Trawlwoolway artist Julie Gough, and Kamilaroi artist Warraba Weatherall

Yhonnie Scarce said Ryan's work caught her attention with its multi-layered iconography and story of past, present, and future

Scarce also praised the precision and technique of Presley's painting

Presley is one of seven winners, with 64 finalists and 221 entries, including $15,000 awards for general painting and more

The artwork blends different artistic traditions

Presley draws on styles and iconography from throughout art history, including Italian Baroque and Spanish artists

He explains that he is threading together several well-known works

Presley created the painting over six months, using a technique called chiaroscuro to imitate the use of light and shade in Renaissance artworks

The work pushed the boundaries of his skills, but it's more than just mimicry

Presley wanted to reinterpret classic works for modern Australia, incorporating a bushfire in the distance

He gives the Indigenous figure and Australian landscape the importance and reverence of Renaissance paintings

Presley is influenced by other First Nations artists, including Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Fiona Foley

His childhood in Alice Springs and his time in south-east Queensland shaped his worldview and art

Presley says both places shaped him and what he holds dear

NATSIAA judge Julie Gough says the exhibition shows cultural survival and transmission to the next generation

Presley is following in the footsteps of his uncle, Laurie Presley, who was a finalist in 2007

He says his uncle's achievement was inspirational, making him think he could do it too

Now, Presley is proud to join the ranks of past winners, demonstrating the vitality of Aboriginal art

He believes Aboriginal people make the most important work in Australia

Jenna Mayilema Lee won the $15,000 Work on Paper Award for her work Taking back taken

Lee wove dilly bags from paper maps stolen from the British Museum in London

She spent time in London, visiting museums and asking to see their collections of stolen Aboriginal artefacts

Lee noticed the museum's map cost a suggested donation of 2 British pounds, which she thought was cheeky

She realized the map could become material for her art, and over the next year, she collected more maps

Lee recruited family and friends to steal maps for her, creating a network of people collecting materials

The act of taking the maps was part of the artwork, a kind of defiance

Lee has exhibited at several events, including the Setouchi Trienniale in Japan and the TarraWarra Biennial

It took her five years to develop the skill to turn the maps into dilly bags

Taking back taken is the culmination of years of work and a singular moment of realizing the opportunity to turn the maps into something

Lee's work builds on her previous piece, HIStory Vessels, which won the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award in 2020

She used the pages of a Ladybird history book to make a series of objects, including woven bags

Turning paper into string for weaving is a difficult process, but Lee was driven by her urge to make work from plant fibers

As an artist working in Melbourne, not on Country, she doesn't have access to traditional materials

Lee had to think about what she was weaving and use the resources around her, like books and paper

The NATSIAA exhibition is at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin until January 24

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