{"id":43969,"date":"2026-07-04T00:53:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/43969\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T00:53:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:53:23","slug":"chilling-invasion-day-image-among-this-years-national-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-art-awards-finalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/43969\/","title":{"rendered":"Chilling Invasion Day image among this year’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards finalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

The small black-and-white photograph is hung on its own, to the side of the gallery.<\/p>\n

Most visitors have to stand close and bend down to a child’s eye level to see the picture clearly.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The photo was taken at this year’s Invasion Day march in Perth before an attempted bomb attack. (Instagram: river.bali.art)<\/p>\n

In the image, a young girl looks back at the viewer, smiling shyly and sitting on the shoulders of her father, who is wearing an Aboriginal flag T-shirt.<\/p>\n

Gallery-goers look between the photo and the label card on the wall next to it, which announces the title of the work \u2014 The Targets.<\/p>\n

When they realise what they’re looking at, some quietly gasp.<\/p>\n

The photo was taken by young Kija artist River Bali on January 26 this year in Perth\/Boorloo<\/a>, where a homemade bomb was thrown into the crowd of Invasion Day marchers but failed to detonate.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Kija photographer says the work captures First Nations’ vulnerability and “undeniable” resilience. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

When Shannon Brett, curator of this year’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), first saw the photograph, their “first reaction was just goosebumps”.<\/p>\n

“I was like: Wow, this is really important,” they said.<\/p>\n

“This is a current issue and an alarming statement about racism in Australia.”<\/p>\n

After the alleged attack, First Nations advocates called out<\/a> what they described as devastating double standards in the muted response from politicians and the media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Crowds have flocked to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, based in Darwin, to see this year’s creations. (Supplied: Shannon Brett)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The 64 finalists were selected from more than 200 entries. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

For Bali, the photograph captures the juxtaposition of the vulnerability of Indigenous children alongside “undeniable First Nations resilience”.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, the photograph stands as a testament to our enduring spirit, holding firm and lifting up the next generation despite violent threats,” he said.<\/p>\n

The image is among the 64 finalists in Australia’s longest running and most prestigious First Nations art awards, freshly installed at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Some paintings are on traditional canvas, while others use natural materials like wood and bark. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A variety of styles are included in this year’s awards, from bark and general painting to multimedia and 3D works such as sculpture and weaving. (ABC News: Jacqueline Breen)<\/p>\n

More than 200 entries came from all corners of the country and were crafted in almost every medium \u2014 bark painting, large-scale canvas, video art, woven pandanus, blown glass, twisted reclaimed metal and more.<\/p>\n

Finalists of all ages have been selected, with Dr Brett \u2014 a Wakka Wakka, Gooreng Gooreng and Butchulla artist and former NATSIAA winner \u2014 excited by the dozen-plus emerging artists among them.<\/p>\n

“In terms of artists in our First Nations greater community, and I’m one of those people, this is the big one,” they said.<\/p>\n

“I feel like the level of [the finalists] each year increases; it’s very exciting.”<\/p>\n

Among the many standouts: a massive technicolour landscape by Coober Pedy opal miner-turned-painter George Cooley, a giant pandanus weaving from 28 women artists across Arnhem Land, and Larrakia artist Jenna Lee’s baskets made from “stolen” British Museum tourist maps.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This quilt was woven together by 28 women in Arnhem Land. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

\"Woven<\/p>\n

Larrakia artist Jenna Lee created this woven work featuring paper maps from The British Museum. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

A panel of three judges will announce the winners at a gala event on August 7.<\/p>\n

The awards became the richest in the country several years ago, overtaking the Archibald Portrait Prize.<\/p>\n

The overall winner takes home $100,000, with category prizes also awarded for bark painting, general painting, works on paper, multimedia, emerging artist and a “3D” award for sculpture, textiles and other works.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

George Cooley’s painting depicts his country near Coober Pedy. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The small black-and-white photograph is hung on its own, to the side of the gallery. Most visitors have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31093,33843,17038,33838,33842,22,21,33665,33844,33841,33836,33837,33835,33834,33840,12713,33839],"class_list":["post-43969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-aboriginal-art","tag-aboriginal-artist","tag-art","tag-art-awards","tag-artist","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-indigenous-art","tag-indigenous-artist","tag-invasion-day","tag-magnt","tag-museum-and-art-gallery-of-nt","tag-national-aboriginal-art-awards","tag-natsiaas","tag-painting","tag-sculpture","tag-telstra-natsiaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}