The scintillating lyricism, depth of engagement, technical complexity, singular vision and powerful poetic rhythms are attributes rarely glimpsed with such eloquence.
WYNNE ART PRIZE WINNER 2018
This painting is associated with Yunala, a rock hole and soakage water site among sandhills west of Kiwirrkura in Western Australia. During ancestral times a group of women camped at this site. While at Yunala, the women camped beside the rock hole, digging for the edible roots of the bush banana or silky pear vine (Marsdenia australis), also known as yunala.
The lines in the work represent both the sandhills surrounding the site as well as the yunala tubers underground. The women later continued their travels east, passing through Marrapinti, Ngaminya and Wirrulnga on their way to Wilkinkarra.
The Wynne Prize is awarded annually for ‘the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or for the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists.
Details: Yukultji Napangati, Untitled, acrylic on linen, 244.5 x 183 cm
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WYNNE ART PRIZE WINNER 2019
Sylvia Ken is from the Amata community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in South Australia. Her family are traditional owners for significant sites where the Seven Sisters story takes place.
This painting refers to this story, the landscape that the story takes place in, as well as the characters in the story.
‘I listen to the old people’s stories and I think about these stories and then the ideas come for my paintings… I listen when they are talking about tjukurpa and telling creation stories, and when they say to me, “No, you should paint this way, the Seven Sisters”.
Details: Sylvia Ken, Seven Sisters, acrylic on linen, 200 x 240 cm
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WYNNE ART PRIZE ESTABLISHMENT
The prize was established following a bequest by Richard Wynne, who died in 1895, and first awarded in 1897, in honour of the official opening of the Gallery at its present site. AGNSW
Between 1897 and 1928 there was no Wynne Prize exhibition at the then National Art Gallery of NSW. The winners were selected by the trustees from local art society shows, from works brought into the Gallery for assessment or, on occasions, from works viewed by the trustees in other circumstances.
