Tiwi artist Timothy Cook has won the $40,000 29^thTelstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award with a very traditional, natural pigment painting titled Kulama depicting the designs applied to the bodies of men during the coming of age ceremony that signifies initiation into Tiwi kinship.

Cook, a 53 year old artist who has been painting for 13 years at Jilamara, Milikapati, likes to paint large canvases and fees his work is very spiritual.  He speaks personally about his paintings; his Kulama his "favourite/special" painting.

During the Kulama ceremony, which was traditionally attended by hundreds, a poisonous yam is prepared - cooked over hot coals for three days while the ceremony takes place and eaten only on the last day to symbolise the closure of the ceremony.

A reported favourite of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson who bought one of the artist's paintings after viewing it online, Cook is a highly respected and celebrated artist whose work is held a wide range of prestigious collections in Australia and internationally including the Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

According to the Art Gallery of Western Australia, which holds a number of Cook’s works in its collection, Cook “is an innovator and depicts his traditional narratives in his own aesthetic, using large areas of negative space, fluid and spontaneous application of ochre, loose interwoven lines and rhythmic mark-making that renders surfaces with an almost shimmering surface.”

Now in its 29th year, the Telstra Art Award is the longest-running art award dedicated to the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, and has come to be regarded as one of the premier national events in the Australian Indigenous art community.

First awarded in 1983 as the National Aboriginal Art Award by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, the aim of the Award is to recognise the important contribution made by Indigenous artists and to promote appreciation and understanding of the quality and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art from regional and urban based Indigenous artists throughout Australia, working in traditional and contemporary media.

As well as the Telstra award, a number of other prizes are awarded over a total of five categories:

The Telstra General Painting Award was awarded to South Australian artist Barbara Moore for her untitled synthetic polymer on canvas that depicts the Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands.

The Telstra Bark Painting Award was awarded to Arnhem Land artist Djirirra Wunungmurra for her work Yukuwa, which is one of the personal names of this artist. Yukuwa is a yam whose annual reappearance is a metaphor for the increase and renewal of the people and their land.

The Telstra Work on Paper was awarded to South Australian artist Raymond Zada for his work Racebook, which is a Giclee print on Hahnemuhle FineArt photo rag. Racebook is a response to racist comments posted in two Facebook groups – “Aboriginal Spongebob” and “Giving ya wife a sniff of ya petrol cos ur a top noonga”. The letters of Racebook are formed from actual comments posted in those two groups. They give a snapshot of some people’s attitude toward, and perceptions of Aboriginal people in Australia. Racebook represents the artist’s purging of the hateful comments while raising awareness of the attitudes being expressed in social media.

The Wandjuk Marika Memorial Three-Dimensional Award, sponsored by Telstra, was awarded to Maningrida artist Jack Nawilil for his work Namorroddo. Mr Nawilil has used paperbark, bush string, natural pigments, beeswax and feathers to create this work that tells the story of Namorroddo who was travelling for a long time in a dream from Gapuwiyak to Ramingining looking for honey.