Port Hedland woman Bobbi Lockyer has been announced as the winner of the prestigious 2023 National NAIDOC week poster competition.
The National NAIDOC Week committee considered Ms Lockyer's response to "powerfully capture the spirit" of this year's theme, For Our Elders.
She said her artwork, which is titled this year's theme is a heart-warming piece that pays tribute to Indigenous Elders across the country.
"Our Elders are the foundation of our communities and role models for our children," Ms Lockyer said.
"With this poster I wanted to showcase how important our Elders are in passing down traditions and culture to our children and future."
Ms Lockyer said she feels a connection to her Ngarluma, Kariyarra, Nyulnyul and Yawuru culture when creating art which she offers as prints and wall art.
She has also collaborated with numerous well-known organisations including Toll Australia, The Body Shop and Woolworths on projects incorporating her traditional artworks and illustrations.
"As an artist I find art healing. When I sit down with a canvas and some paints I'm able to connect with my ancestors and my culture and feel a sense of self-healing and there's just something so calming about creating," she said.
"When I create, it's like a whole other world," said Ms Lockyer.
National NAIDOC Committee Co-Chair Steven Satour said Ms Lockyer's representation of this year's NAIDOC theme highlighted the value and importance of Elders in Indigenous communities throughout Australia.
"Our Elders are an integral part of our communities, the keepers of our wisdom, and important bridges between the modern world and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures," he said.
"There has never been a more pressing time to sit down and listen to our Elders"
In thanking the many talented artists who submitted artwork in the competition, National NAIDOC Committee Co-Chair Dr Lynette Riley said selecting the competition's winner was a significant challenge.
"Each year, judging and selecting the artwork is one of the toughest jobs of the National NAIDOC Committee as there is so much talent amongst all our communities," she said.
The National NAIDOC Week Poster competition is an iconic feature of National NAIDOC Week and has a rich and significant history beginning in the 1960s when the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) first began producing posters.
Ms Lockyer will receive a $10,000 cash prize and attend the 2023 National NAIDOC Awards Ceremony in Meanjin (Brisbane) on Saturday 1 July 2023 as a guest of the National NAIDOC Committee.
NAIDOC Week 2023 will be held from Sunday 2 July to Sunday 9 July.
