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The award-winning work shows ex-football player Adam Goodes (left) and the artist himself
Photo: Vincent Namatjira / REUTERS
The 37-year-old received the equivalent of around 60,000 euros for his painting entitled "Stand strong for who you are": Vincent Namatjira won the Archibald Prize.
It is the first time since the competition was launched in 1921 that an indigenous Australian has received the prestigious award for portrait painting.
The work shows him shaking hands with former Australian football star Adam Goodes.
"This is a very special moment for me, and I'm a bit nervous and excited," said Namatjira in the video chat at the award ceremony: "It only lasted 99 years!"
Namatjira said he shared with Goodes, whom he described as a "proud Aboriginal man", "similar stories and experiences - about the separation of culture, language and land and the constant pressure to be an Aboriginal man in this country".
Namatjira was deeply moved by the documentary "The Final Quarter" about Goodes' last season.
The "Australian of the Year" was ashamed to be Australian
Goodes is one of Australia's most famous athletes.
For more than ten years he played very successfully in the most popular sport in the country: Australian Rules Football.
In the last few years of his career, however, he has been hooted and booed by opposing fans.
The reason for the racist abuse was Goodes' commitment to indigenous Australians.
In public appearances, the now 40-year-old repeatedly addressed the systematic disadvantage of the Aborigines in Australia.
When he was personally named Australian of the Year by the Prime Minister in 2014, Goodes said he was ashamed to be Australian because of the way the Aborigines treated him.
During away games there were then monkey calls and similar insults.
In 2015, Goodes finally took leave of his club because he no longer wanted to expose himself to racist abuse from opposing fans.
A solidarity campaign followed under the hashtag #IStandWithAdam, a little later Goodes revised his decision and started playing again.
Icon: The mirror
mrk / dpa / rtr