This is Atherreyurre in Mparntwe, also known as the Telegraph Station in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. It is a site of significance for Thea Anamara Perkins, a two-time Wynne finalist who is also exhibiting in this year’s Archibald Prize. This is where her grandfather Charles Perkins was born and where he rests, and where her great-grandmother Hetty Perkins worked.

The seductive beauty of Perkins’s work, with its atmospheric evocations of burnished light, draws viewers into a tender trap set to expose the looming threats of climate inaction. ‘Beauty can be a vehicle to convey hard truths,’ she says. ‘I chose to paint last light as time is running out. I’m communicating the essence of a place that I hold dear to prompt others to think of what we value.’ Thus, this painting, which echoes the energetic rhythms of landscape, becomes a portrait of the people connected to it. As Perkins explains, ‘Country is family.’