Wongutha-Yamatji actor, playwright and artist Meyne Wyatt has taken out the 2020 Archibald Packing Room Prize for his self-portrait Meyne, the Art Gallery of New South Wales announced today. The $1,500 Packing Room Prize is awarded to the best entry in the Archibald Prize as judged by the Gallery staff who receive, unpack and hang the entries.

Meyne Wyatt has won the 2020 Archibald Packing Room Prize for his self portrait Meyne. Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling

Wyatt – whose debut play City of Gold was a hit when it premiered for Queensland Theatre last year, before coming to Sydney for Griffin Theatre –  has become the first Indigenous artist to win any of the prizes on offer in the Archibald Prize in its 99-year history, and only the second self-portrait to win the Packing Room Prize.

“I have been known to say that artists who enter a self-portrait have no hope of winning the Packing Room Prize, but in this case I made an exception to my rule as Meyne is both an artist and celebrity who is all over Australian television,” said head packer, , who has worked at the gallery for 39 years...