Pitjantjatjara artist Timo Hogan has won the coveted Telstra Art Award.
Hogan won for his dramatic artwork Lake Baker 2020, a 2x3metre painting which pays homage to his father’s Country, and his continuing custodianship of this significant site.
“I am very happy to have won this award. It makes me feel strong inside. Painting is important for Anangu (Aboriginal people) to tell their stories. The Art Centre is a good place for people to come and be together and paint their Country," said Mr Hogan.
"I’m happy for this prize and that people see this work is important."
Hogan’s winning work depicts Lake Baker and tells of the Tjukurpa within the landscape, and the inhabitants that made it.
Timo Hogan's work "Lake Baker 2020". Source: Supplied
In this representation of the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (Two Men creation line), the men watch carefully
as the powerful Wanampi (water serpent) departs his home and skirts the edge of the lake.
“I’m painting Lake Baker. It’s a sacred place. My father showed me the Tjukurpa (spiritual / ancestral creation story) when I was a boy. It’s got a big story, but I can't tell all of it, miilmiilpa (highly sacred), only the front part,” explains Mr Hogan.
Hogan was one of several winners announced last night by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, including Kartujarra painter Bugai Whyoulter, Yolŋu Matha artists Dhambit Munuŋgurr and Ms M Wirrpanda, Arrernte Hubert Pareroultja and Mervyn Rubuntja and Pedro Wonaeamirri, a Milikapiti man.
