How many Aboriginal artists have won the Archibald Prize?
There is no part on the Archibald Prize application form that asks for the artist’s (or subject’s) “Aboriginality”, so we can never know the answer to this question for sure. What follows is based only on known identifications and research: No known Aboriginal artists have won the Archibald Prize, although there have been several finalists since at least 1989, when the late Robert Campbell Junior’s portrait, My Brother Mac Silva was exhibited. In 2006 the finalist Weaver Jack’s self-portrait Weaver Jack in Lungarung was apparently the first Archibald Prize entry to be done in a traditional yet non-figurative style.
