Vincent Lingiari Art Award
Vincent Lingiari Art Award 2026
Desart and the Central Land Council are proud to present the fourth Vincent Lingiari Art Award, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) 1976 with the theme Our Country, Our Culture: 50 Years of Land Rights. The landmark law saw the establishment of the Northern Territory’s two largest land councils and allowed them to claim more than half of the NT back for the traditional landowners.
Since the inaugural Vincent Lingiari Art Award in 2016, Aboriginal artists whose country is in the CLC region have submitted works in a wide range of media. The 2026 Vincent Lingiari Art Award is Curated by Kelli Cole (Luritja, Warumungu). Ms Cole has helped shape the presentation of Indigenous art on a national stage, contributing to National Indigenous Art Triennials at the National Gallery of Australia and recently leading the curation of Emily Kam Kngwarray at the Tate Modern.
In 2026, the prestigious exhibition offers three prizes:
- Vincent Lingiari Art Award, $10,000
- Vincent Lingiari CLC Delegates Choice Award, $2000
- Desart People’s Choice Award, $2000
The exhibition opened Monday 17 August and runs until Sunday 18 October 2026 at the Araluen Arts Centre in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. The exhibition is also viewable online here.
Vincent Lingiari Art Award 2026 Winner
My grandmother’s Country
Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney
Artists of Ampilatwatja
Congratulations to Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney who has won the prestigious $10,000 Vincent Lingiari Art Award for her painting My grandmother’s country.
For many years the traditional healer painted together with her mother Eileen Bonney, one of the founders of Artists of Ampilatwatja and the last of the original claimants of the Wakaya Alyawarre land claim that was handed back only last year.
“My mother has been fighting for this land for 40 years, one of the longest standing land claims in the Northern Territory, and now she is passing it over. So we can pass it over to our children,” Ms Bonney said.
“My mother had to fight because this was her mother’s country. My great-great grandfather’s country is Arlenkw,” she said. “My grandfather’s mother’s country is Titjambera. My great grandmother’s country is Arene.”
The winning landscape painting depicts country approximately 325 kilometres northeast of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) that holds stories and memories for the artist.
“When I was young I would go to this country with my mother. I take my daughter and grandchildren to this country. This land holds stories and when we are there, we feel them.”
“I paint to keep my country alive, so we can know and teach our young ones, our grandchildren.”
This is the fourth time the Central Land Council and Desart have joined forces to present the award and the first time two judges chose the winner among a record 56 entries.
Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory curator Rebekah Raymond and the Strehlow Research Centre’s Joel Liddle had the tough task of deciding which entry best responds to this year’s theme Our country, our culture: 50 years of land rights.
“We chose the winning work because it so beautifully reflects a deep connection to country, a connection that is timeless and ever present,” the judges said.
“We talked about how it felt like we could walk right into the artwork; the artist made it feel so true and that we could be there standing with them in their beautiful desert country.”
“We were also moved by the story shared by the artist of how the fight for their land was intergenerational. The artist honoured their elders – their grandmother and their mother who began the fight for their lands, which took 40 long years to succeed. This long-held fight for land, for culture, for our families is one that so many of us know, and so many are still fighting.”
“The work we chose is stunning and has depth, and for us is an important work to celebrate this year.”
Vincent Lingiari’s granddaughter Rosie Smiler travelled to the opening of Desert Mob 2026 to announce the award winner.
Vincent Lingiari CLC Delegates Choice Award Winner
Three Brothers
Joseph Williams Jungarrayi
Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre
Elected members of the Central Land Council, along with Vincent Lingiari’s granddaughter Rosie Smiler, voted for the $2,000 CLC Delegates Choice Award at Kalkaringi in August.
The delegates chose Three Brothers by Tennant Creek’s Joseph Williams Jungarrayi, a cultural leader and Warumungu translator who works for the Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre.
Mr Williams calls his winning work “a reflection on country, memory and ancestral presence, expressed through the surface of a colonial mine map”.
“By working directly onto this map, I reclaim it, transforming a document that once marked extraction and disruption into one that carries culture, story and identity,” he said.
“Fifty years on from land rights, this work speaks to reclamation – of land, of narrative and of identity. It honours the enduring presence of ancestors and recognises that our stories are still embedded in country, no matter how it has been mapped, divided or used.”
CLC chair Warren Williams congratulated the winners and thanked all the artists from across Central Australia and beyond who entered works.
“Our land rights and our art movements have challenged and changed this country for the better. Your art lifts us up and inspires us to keep fighting for our families. We hope it will reach those in power who might otherwise be out of reach,” he said.
Desart chief executive Philip Watkins said:
“Desart warmly congratulates the winners. Elizabeth’s work reflects an unbroken relationship with country that stretches back countless generations. It embodies the profound responsibility, belonging and connection to country, which is what land rights are about.
Similarly, Three Brothers tells a story of resilience, survival and strength. It is a living expression of the present that also draws on knowledge and traditions that have been handed down for generations.
Art has always been the voice of our people. Always was. Always will be. Just as country and culture are inseparable, so too are land rights and art.”
Desart People’s Choice Award 2026 Winner
Arnkerrthe
Margaret Kngwarray Long
Utopia Art Centre
Across the exhibition period, thousands of people visited the Araluen Arts Centre to view the exhibition with hundreds casting their vote for the Desart People’s Choice Award. Votes were also submitted online with all exhibitive works receiving a vote reflecting the extraordinary calibre of works submitted.
Kelli Cole, Curator of Vincent Lingiari Art Award 2026 said the award attracted record entries and presented its largest exhibition to date.
“The exceptional artworks reflect the strength and diversity of Central Australian artistic practice, with several acquired by national institutions. I am proud to have worked alongside Desart and the Central Land Council, presenting the award within Desert Mob. Congratulations to the participating art centres and, above all, the artists,” Ms Cole said.
Desart and the CLC are proud to announce that Margaret Kngwarray Long of Utopia Art Centre has won the Desart People’s Choice Award for her painting, Arnkerrth 2026 which depicts Arnkerrth, the Mountain Devil – her mother’s Dreaming from her country, Atnangkerr. Stretching 211 x 151 cm, Margaret’s extraordinary work has also been reserved by the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
“Amaroo old station. That’s where I was born. Where I grew up. I used to go to Utopia Homestead school when I was a young girl. A long time ago.
“My father was working doing station work. Mustering for tucker. No money. We moved all over. Queensland and Northern Territory side. Argadargada Station, Waite River Station, Lake Nash, Mount Skinner. Everywhere. My father’s working. We went and sat down, all the ladies and young girls. We were sitting down at Waite River and Argadargada for a long time. Hunting in the Eugene River. My family were learning me. Learning to ride horse, too.”
“Atnangkerr Country we used to go with my aunties. Gloria, Kathleen, Violet. I was watching them doing painting. Making canvas and batik. We were working there at Utopia Homestead all together. When I was young. Batik first then painting now.”
– Margaret Kngwarray Long
Desart and CLC congratulate all finalists of the 2026 award.
Although the exhibition has now ended, works can still be viewed online here.