Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following article contains references to deceased persons.
This year’s winner, Noli Rictor, has been described as ‘possibly the youngest “first contact” Aboriginal person in Australia’. At 21, Rictor transitioned from an isolated life in the desert, where he had survived with only his immediate family, to the settlement of Yakadunya, joining other Spinifex people who had relocated due to British nuclear testing at Maralinga. He then started painting.
