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A Sydney artist's work scrutinising the treatment of returned veterans has won the 2023 Gallipoli Art Prize.
Andrew Tomkins' uniquely textured polyester piece, Ray's Room, depicts the bedroom where his uncle sought refuge after returning from the horrors of WWII.
Ray fought in the Battle of Slaters Knoll, Bougainville in 1945, which resulted in almost 200 Australian casualties.
A tearful Mr Tomkins says he was motivated to create the deeply personal artwork by the royal commission into veteran suicides.
"It is a dark work and it is challenging, but not just in the visual sense," he told reporters after his work was declared the winner in Sydney on Wednesday.
"It poses questions to us all about our ongoing responsibilities to defence personnel and veterans.
"This room was a place of refuge for Ray, somewhere where he could leave those memories outside."
The artwork is the product of a technique Mr Tomkins developed over many years, whereby he sloughs shapes off a painted polyester sheet that is then mounted 25mm from a textured backboard, creating a voluminous, layered effect.
A four-time finalist in the competition, Mr Tomkins was highly commended by judges in 2021 for his work The Guns Fell Silent, inspired by his Scottish mother who was based at the air-defence guns overlooking the English Channel on D-Day.
This year, judges commended Richard Crossland's painting 24 Days, Simpson and His Donkey - a depiction of the eponymous stretcher bearer laid out alongside his equine companion after being killed by sniper fire at Gallipoli.
Indigenous AFL legend Nicky Winmar was a finalist in the competition for his abstract work Anzac Cove, Bombardment - a Cimmerian evocation of a seascape bombardment at night.
Gallipoli Memorial Club president and Gadigal man John Robertson says Winmar's inclusion on the 30th anniversary of his famous stand against racism on the sporting field is a poignant reminder of the contributions First Nations people have made to Australia's military history.
Now in its 18th year, the annual $20,000 prize invites artists from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey to commemorate the legacy of those who fought at Gallipoli on both sides of the conflict.
The 38 finalists will be exhibited at 6-8 Atherden Street, The Rocks from April 20 to May 14.
