Arabic version: منحوتة من جلد الكنغر تفوز بجائزة نابيير والر الفنية

According to ABC News, Ron Bradfield Jnr has won the 2026 Napier Waller Art Prize for Who We Forgot, a sculpture featuring carved shells and wood on kangaroo skin. The Bard, Jawi saltwater man is the first Indigenous artist to win the Defence exhibition’s top prize, selected from about 150 entrants.

Bradfield Jnr, a former Australian Defence Force member, said the work culturally re-imagines Australia’s military service and awards from a First Nations perspective. He described it as a parody of Australia’s award system and said it asks viewers to honour “every survival story”, including those of people who survived invasion and occupation and those who arrive in Australia today.

The sculpture’s medal-like forms are made with materials connected to the artist’s family and background, including white ochre and pearl shells. It is being displayed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, where the exhibition opened on Thursday alongside highly commended and shortlisted works.

Australian War Memorial head of art Laura Webster said judges responded to the work’s engagement with truth, the past and the present, as well as its potential to bring people together. Leah Gordon’s highly commended oil painting WRAN examines sexism, misogyny and sexual assault experienced by women in Defence.

Other shortlisted works address trauma and veteran suicide. Paul Robertson’s self-portrait Medals to Madness explores the invisible scars, fractured relationships and isolation that can follow military service. Kat Rae’s installation Un Pack, combining a shredded military pack and partially redacted blanket, examines suicide among women veterans. The public can vote online for a people’s choice winner, who will receive $5,000.