Blak Douglas has been awarded winner of the $30,000 STILL: National Still Life Award 2021 at the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery for his work, Silent Cop 2020.

The work was selected among 59 finalists by guest judge Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

In his online acceptance speech, Blak Douglas—a descendant of the neighbouring Dunghutti nation on the NSW Mid-North Coast said, “I stepped outside of painting to create this piece because we are devoid of monuments, devoid of sculptures, of representations of First Nation People across the continent.”

“The artwork speaks about the abhorrent fact that we still have black deaths in custody and the indigenous incarceration rate.”

Elizabeth Ann Macgregor commented “It’s a sombre work, it’s a very beautiful work, and I hope the audience responds to it. I know the Gallery will do a lot with it in terms of their education programs…It is a work you really have to see!”

All 59 artworks will be available to view via a 3D Virtual Tour of STILL, launching by September.