Silent Background

Highly commended

2025
acrylic on canvas
104 x 104 cm

Silent Background foregrounds two unknown members of the Royal Papuan Constabulary who stand in the background of a photograph from the Second World War (photograph: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C216359).

The work invites reflection on those who serve without recognition, the personnel whose presence shapes history, even when their names are left unsaid and their voices are unheard.

In 1942, tales of these elusive, resilient and unseen figures drifted like whispers through the jungle, feared by the invading Japanese forces, who referred to them as the Green Shadows.

Some stories travel on the wind. Some become legend. Others are locked away, known only to those who lived them.

Silent Background portrays two soldiers, but it also speaks for all who have lived, witnessed, and endured in silence. It is a reminder that every untold story remains part of who we are.