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Visit the NATSIAA Awards Gallery from home

22 August 2025
Telstra NATSIAA Exhibition

​​MAGNT has announced the 2025 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards winners. View the works of all finalists online at a Virtual Gallery.

Photo credit: Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

​​The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) has announced the 2025 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) winners. 

​Through a collaboration between the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), and Darwin company Rise Consulting, visitors can now navigate their way through the NATSIAA virtual gallery, which showcases all 71 finalist artworks, including this year’s category award-winning works. 

​Gaypalani Wanambi from Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, is the prestigious 2025 Telstra Art Award winner with her monumental etched metal work, Burwu, blossom 2025. 

​Gaypalani Wanambi is a Yolnu Matha woman from Yirrkala. She is the eldest daughter of renowned artist Wukun Wa.ambi, whom she assisted as she was growing up. Their family home doubled as an art studio from her earliest years. The verandahs or the lounge room would invariably be the scene of art production, with a large pole or bark being worked on by her parents and siblings.  

​After her father’s passing, cultural protocol required her to avoid using his designs. Instead, Gaypalani began to create artwork from the epic song poetry relating to the journeys of Wuyal, the Ancestral honey hunter. 

​Other winners at the Telstra NATSIAA Awards 2025 are: 

  • ​Telstra General Painting Award - Iluwanti Ken, Pitjantjatjara language, Amata community, SA
  • ​Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award (sponsored by Telstra) - Owen Yalandja Kuninjku language, Maningrida, NT
  • ​Telstra Bark Painting Award - Lucy Yarawanga Gurr-goni language, lives Maningrida, NT
  • ​Telstra Work on Paper Award - Naomi Hobson, Southern Kaantju and Umpila languages, lives Coen, Cape York, QLD
  • ​Telstra Multimedia Award - Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis Pitta Pitta language, lives Naarm (Melbourne)
  • ​Telstra Emerging Artist Award - Sonia Gurrpulan Guyula, Djambarrpuyngu language, lives Dhondji Homeland, NT 

​Now in its 42nd year, the 2024 Telstra NATSIAA features Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across the nation, sharing incredible works reflecting the strength of cultures, responses to current affairs and unerring connections to Country. 

More information

​Read more about the Telstra NATSIAA Awards 2025. 

​Visit the Virtual Gallery showcasing Telstra NATSIAA Awards finalists. The Office for the Arts’ Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support (IVAIS) program provided funding to MAGNT to promote the Awards. For more information about IVAIS visit www.arts.gov.au/ivais

​This recognition of outstanding First Nations artists contributes to Closing the Gap through Outcome 16 – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages are strong, supported and flourishing.