Ryan Presley has won the 2026 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) for his work Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed (2026), the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory has announced. He will receive a AU$100,000 cash prize.
Six other artists each received a prize of AU$15,000 across different categories: general painting, bark painting, work on paper, memorial 3D, multimedia and emerging artist.
Born in Mparntwe / Alice Springs, Presley is a Marri Ngarr artist based on Yugambeh Country (Logan City) in southeast Queensland. His multimedia work questions the legacies of settler colonialism, particularly through the lens of currency, ritual and state authority. Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed is an oil on polyester work that plays with the codes of Italian Renaissance painting.
Founded in 1984, the Telstra NATSIAA is Australia’s first and longest-running award that celebrates the work of First Nations artists.
Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed is currently on view alongside the work of all 64 finalists of the award at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, through 24 January.
