Who We Forget

Highly commended

2026
pearl shell (guwan), baler shell (ambool), karri, jarrah and she-oak recycled timber, grasstree (balga) resin, ground red, yellow, black and white ochre, PVA glue solution, hessian ribbons and thread
32 x 12.5 cm

​This work culturally reimagines Australia’s military service and awards system through the lens of this continent’s First Nations Aboriginal and Islander peoples — of which I am one.

It challenges Australians to consider how different this nation might be if our mobs, our warriors, and our generations of veterans from the wars fought on this continent were remembered with the same respect and reverence as the Anzacs.

If we truly acknowledged all of our survival stories — from those who first survived invasion and occupation to those who arrive here today — Australia would be a very different place.

We would be more tolerant, more caring, and ultimately far safer for those who call this place their home. We wouldn't be facing the same degree of racism and we wouldn't be accepting the behaviour that comes with it.

As Australians, we must come together through all of this nation’s peoples and honour every survival story — our own, our families’, and our ancestors’.

“Lest We Forget” must include and honour all of who we are as Australians today, not just a select few.