A portrait of respected West Australian Aboriginal elder Daisy Tjuparntarri Ward has taken out this year's Archibald Prize people's choice award.
Artist David Darcy was named the winner at the NSW Art Gallery on Wednesday, following a vote by the public.
Mr Darcy met Ms Ward - an elder of the Warakurna community and Ngaanyatjarra people in WA - in 2018 after she walked into his studio looking for art supplies.
"Over several weeks we got to know each other and I discovered I'd met an extraordinary woman," Mr Darcy, from NSW's Upper Hunter, said.
Ms Ward works as a cultural and community liaison officer for regional schools in WA and is also a translator, artist, storyteller and advocate against domestic violence.
Aboriginal Elder Daisy Tjuparntarri Ward and artist David Darcy pose for a photograph in front of David's portrait of Daisy at the Art Gallery of NSW Source: AAP
"I am very proud and happy that we, the people of the central deserts, are being recognised in this way," she said.
