‘BILL CHAMBERS, Desert Blood’ - 2021 Archibald entry

Finalist in the 2022 Percival Portrait Painting Prize

Bill Chambers is at home in a place most see as harsh, featureless and unforgiving - but that’s not how he sees it. There’s a sense of peace and belonging that can only be found on the vast Nullarbor plain; big skies, burning sunsets and billions of stars shining in the night.

He’s a musician and a man who can live off the land. In the desert Bill made his own track but knew it would eventually disappear in the shifting sands. He built campfires, sang old songs with his family; and watched as the smoke disappeared into the darkness.