Marri Ngarr artist Ryan Presley has brought oil painting, politics and the Western canon together in his finalist work for the Telstra General Painting Award at the 2026 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA).
Now in its 43rd year, Telstra NATSIAA brings together First Nations artists from across the country, with 64 works selected from 221 entries for this year's exhibition at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
Mr Presley was born in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) and lives and works on Yugambeh Country in Logan, south-east Queensland.
His finalist work, 'Our lifestyle of tranquillity undisturbed', is an oil painting on polyester that draws together dreamlike imagery, political memory and references to European art history.
Mr Presley told National Indigenous Times being named a finalist carried personal meaning.
"It's pretty special," Mr Presley said.
"I've always been interested in the Telstra Award, particularly when I started pursuing art as a career.
"I always thought it was a real pinnacle of achievement to be in the Telstra."
This year marks Mr Presley's third time as a NATSIAA finalist, following selections in 2016 and 2020.
The painting shows a figure lying peacefully with a companion and a luxury rifle, positioned near dark reflective water, with a large bushfire in the background.
The work references the Orwellian phrase, "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past", and considers how the present is shaped by what has come before.
Mr Presley said the work was part of a shift in his painting practice.
"I've been trying to push my painting and push my skills," Mr Presley said.
"It's sort of the next leap I'm trying to make in my work.
"I'm looking at more realistic, but also more dreamy and surreal."
Mr Presley's practice spans painting, printmaking, sculpture, video, installation and writing, and often examines power, memory and resistance.
His finalist work also looks to the Western canon, particularly Renaissance painting, as something inherited locally and able to be reworked through contemporary Indigenous experience.
He said the title and ideas behind the work drew from different historical and political references.
"I like pulling different parts out from Captain Cook's journal," Mr Presley said.
"And then also piecing that together with Tony Abbott talking about lifestyle choices. I'm blending those ideas together."
The work continues Mr Presley's broader practice of challenging colonial ways of seeing, while using technical precision and visual references to reframe historical narratives.
He said the starting point for any new work was often whether the idea held his attention.
"As long as there's something honest about an idea or feeling, then more often than not, that's the right way to go."
Mr Presley said he could not predict how audiences would respond to the painting, but hoped viewers would feel the time and effort carried in the work.
"I think it's one of the best works I feel I've done to this point, as a maker, as a painter," Mr Presley said.
"I hope people get that sustaining feeling from it."
The 2026 Telstra NATSIAA exhibition opened at MAGNT on June 27.
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on August 7, with artists sharing in a total prize pool of $190,000, including the $100,000 Telstra Art Award.
