Noli Rictor wins the 2024 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

The news of Noli’s win was as serendipitous as it was exciting. 

Our travel had already been booked; Noli and his older brother Ian Rictor had tickets to Darwin for Spinifex Arts Projects group show Pila: The Space Between the Dunes with Salon Art Projects. The exhibition they featured in was opening at the Darwin Botanic Gardens to coincide with the 2024 NATSIAA Art Awards. Not only was Noli a NATSIAA finalist, but his brother Ian was also exhibiting a terrifically bold work in the Salon de Refuses.

There was much excitement around this trip north as it meant travelling through the country the brothers had lived in until 1986. Plans were made to visit Kamanti, the site represented in Noli’s NATSIAA work, a place frequented by the brothers in their youth.

With the brothers ready to travel, the trip to Darwin started with a familiar reminder of Tjuntjuntjara’s remoteness. On the morning of departure, we awoke to heavy rainfall, drowning yesterday’s plan to drive to Alice Springs on the usual track north that winds through the Spinifex homelands. However, we were determined to catch our flight to Darwin in two days’ time.

Plan B quickly started to develop. We set off on east Oak Valley Road for Ceduna, with hopes to get far enough down the track to arrive at Alice Springs the following night. There are a vast collection of stories to be told on all roads out of Tjuntjuntjara, from broken down cars eliciting epic tales of laughter to the sites that remind us of the frivolity of state borders.

Driving east provides a history lesson in reverse order. As we turned off the dirt, we hit a 50km stretch of single-lane bitumen that provides some relief from the jarring corrugations. However, this sense of relief is conflicted with the knowledge that at the north end lies the Maralinga army base. The faded road, ridden with potholes and old power poles, was the road that nuclear armaments were driven up on their way to be tested on Pitjantjatjara and Yankuntjatjarra lands to the north. It was a sobering stretch of road, especially in the company of a family left behind. Ian tells the story of his father digging himself into the sand dunes to hide from the poisonous black smoke that blanketed the country. A silence comes over the driving party, only broken by Ian’s incredulous laughter.

The next stop was Ooldea, a major site for the Spinifex people and many others. A place that previously held a seemingly endless supply of water in the surrounds of the otherwise desolate Nullarbor Plain. The soakage here was destroyed by the steam trains that came through, drinking the land dry like a mechanised Wanampi (Water Serpent). Eventually turning left onto the Eyre Highway, we chose to retire for the night in Ceduna, anticipating the 13 hour drive the next day. 

On the road again, the well-used short cut through Kokatha Country to Kingoonya meets up with the Stuart Highway north of Glendambo. We passed what felt like hundreds of kangaroos, the brothers increasingly frustrated with my refusal to mow a couple down for lunch. After a largely uneventful 10-hour drive along the highway we made it to Alice Springs late that night. A mixture of relief and exhaustion numbed our anticipation for the incoming week, lulling us to sleep.

Landing in Darwin, we had two things on our minds, finding a cowboy shop and seeing some crocodiles. Delaneys Country & Western store ensured that the fellas were donned with crisp cowboy hats and fancy shirts, ready for a week in the city. Crocodilus Cove was the next stop. The brothers stared on perplexed as to why tourists paid to be dunked into the tanks of these otherworldly reptiles. We had checked off the first part of the agenda, all that remained were the exhibitions and art prize.

The day of the group show coincided with the media onslaught that preceded the announcement of the winner of the NATSIAA Prize. Interviews with every major Australian newspaper populated Noli’s morning. It would be an alien environment for anyone, let alone a man from the desert.

Luckily, our busy schedule allowed for an early exit. We were on route to the Spinifex Arts Projects group show Pila: The Space Between the Dunes with Salon Art Projects. In entering the gallery space nestled in the Darwin Botanic Gardens, Ian’s eyes lit up as his paintings came into view. This was particularly significant for Ian as he had not travelled to an exhibition for the last 20 years, despite his prolific practice. These paintings had only been seen leaning against the wall of his dusty, sunbaked studio. They now hung proudly against a perfectly lit white wall, drawing focus to the preciousness of the work. Noli’s painting was shimmering; its presence captured the magic and movement of the desert through stationary dots. 

The next day was fuelled by the buzz of the group show. Spare time was filled with visiting the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair and family from Pipalyatjara who were working the Ninuku booth. 

The NATSIAA Art Award ceremony that night went off without a hitch, Noli charming his way through his newfound fans and acceptance speech. Trophy in hand, we celebrated with all you can eat seafood; the brothers consuming enough prawns to influence global fisheries. 

After a flight and a nights camp, we had covered over 2000 kilometres, Darwin present in our minds, yet so far away. We were a few hours down the track that connects Tjuntjuntjara to the Gunbarrel Highway, near Irrunytju Community. Noli gestured to turn off the track, up and over a sand dune we went, the Toyota dragging itself through the soft red sand. Arriving on the other side two small rock holes came into view, no larger than the topside of a 44-gallon drum. Noli stepped out of the car and walked towards the smaller of the two rock holes. He picked up a rock and threw it into the water, announcing his presence to the Wanampi (Water Serpent) that resides there.

We all share a quiet moment before Noli turns and says, ‘Kamanti won the prize, this place is strong and that’s why it won.’