How do artists and cultural institutions shape the conversation on war and conflict?

Kat Rae's powerful Prize-winning work furthers the discussion on how Australia considers conflict through art.
Napier Waller Art Prize-winner 2024 Kat Rae, ‘Deathmin’ (detail), 2023, stacked paper, vinyl, plastic, leather, metal. Image: Supplied. Folders of paperwork stacked on top of each other against the wall, with a green army bag placed on top.

Content warning: The following story discusses suicide and domestic abuse.

In May this year, artist Kat Rae was announced as the winner of the 2024 Napier Waller Art Prize for her work, Deathmin (2023), an installation comprising the ephemera of “post-death admin” that Rae inherited after the suicide of her veteran husband Andrew in 2017.

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Sophia Halloway is an arts writer and critic based in Kamberri/Canberra. She was 2020 Critic-in-Residence for Art Monthly Australasia and has been a regular contributor to Art Monthly Australasia, Art Almanac and others. She has held arts management roles at cultural institutions including the National Gallery of Australia and Museum of Contemporary Art. She has a First Class Honours degree in Art History & Curatorship from the Australian National University. Instagram @sophiahalloway_