‘Knocked us out at first glance’: Judges praise winner of 2023 Hadley’s Art Prize

A central Australian artist has won the $100,000 Hadley’s Art Prize for her landscape work Ngayuku Ngura (My Country). Take a look

Hadley's Residency Prize Winner, Melissa Kenihan, This Is Not A Rehearsal.

A woman from Central Australia has won the 2023 Hadley’s Art Prize for her painting that left the judges “knocked out at first glance”.

Senior Yankunytjatjara artist Vicki Yatjiki Cullinan was announced on Friday as the winner out of 30 finalists for the $100,000 acquisitional landscape prize, one of the richest in the country.

Cullinan, from Indulkana Community in South Australia, has more than 20 years’ experience in painting, printmaking and drawing.

She is also a respected leader and art mentor in her community, and works as director and cultural liaison officer at the Indigenous owned and governed Iwantja Arts.

Her painting, Ngayuku Ngura (My Country), will now be showcased at the Hadley’s Orient Hotel, along with the winners’ work from previous years.

Hadley's Art Prize Winner, Vicki Yatjiki Cullinan, Ngayuku Ngura (My Country). Picture: Chris Kidd

“I love my country and everything in it. I paint the stories of my family and the land that they have lived on for many generations,” Cullinan told the Mercury.

Cullinan, who paints every day at Iwantja Arts, said Ngayuku Ngura took about a week to paint.

“I was a young girl when I started painting. I learnt from all the elders at Iwantja Arts,” she said.

“We would paint next to each other, and they would teach me how to paint and talk about Tjukurpa (ancestral stories).”

Cullinan said her paintings conveyed the “beautiful and powerful” country that she lived on and that “will always be a part of me”.

“My painting is connected to the Tjukurpa that I know, but also my paintings are an extension of who I am, and how I interpret my place in the world.”

Tasmanian artist Joshua Andree was awarded an honourable mention for his piece Once Still Water (Requiem for a Lake).

Ngayuku Ngura was selected by a judging panel comprising acclaimed Australian artist Wendy Sharpe AM, celebrated Tasmanian artist Milan Milojevic and high-profile academic Fiona Foley.

“Cullinan’s work knocked us out at first glance and just kept giving. The longer you look at it, the better it gets,” the trio said.

“The work does not reveal all its secrets at once. Like the Country, it is vibrant and alive.”

The judges noted this year’s Hadley’s Art Prize had entrants from every state and territory, with the $10,000 Residency Prize awarded to Victorian artist Melissa Kenihan.

Honourable mentions were awarded to Tasmanian artist Joshua Andree, Patrick Mung Mung from Western Australia, Joan Ross from New South Wales and Denise Brady from the Northern Territory.

Curator Amy Jackett said the prize was now in its seventh year and was built upon a legacy of celebrating excellence in contemporary landscape art.

The Finalists Exhibition is now open at the Murray Street hotel until August 20.

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