Meyne Wyatt Meyne

Meyne Wyatt is a Wongutha-Yamatji actor and writer. He says: ‘My self-portrait is the first painting I’ve done in over ten years and I decided to enter it at the behest of my artist mother, Sue Wyatt, an Archibald Prize finalist in 2003 for her portrait of writer Doris Pilkington.

‘I began painting again because I wanted to get back into it at some point, then we went into lockdown [due to COVID-19] and I thought there was no better time than now. Over a span of about four months it took me about five days in total to complete it and I used good old acrylic because it’s what I know. I decided to paint myself because there would be no one to offend if the painting wasn’t any good.’

Wyatt was born in 1989 in Subiaco, Western Australia, and grew up in Kalgoorlie, although he now lives in Sydney. This is the first time he has entered the Archibald Prize. ‘I’ve had no formal art training, just tips from my mum. In 2007 I won an award as part of the Year 12 Perspectives exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and travelled to Japan, where my painting was on exhibit.’