"It's not a woman," she corrected us (from Sydney, from where thank goodness she couldn't see our blushes). She prefers to have us think of the figure as "androgynous" and a mystery.

Back to the artist in a moment. But first, this little lecture:

Canberrans – it is always a mistake to bypass characterful Goulburn as we scuttle to and from Sydney. And this big mistake is compounded, from Thursday, by the presence of a fine exhibition of 30 works at the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery.

To scuttle past Goulburn between November 6 and December 6 will be to miss The 2014 Parliament of New South Wales Aboriginal Art Prize. The winning piece, exhibited with 30 others, is Nicole Foreshew's It comes without seeking 1, a digital print on photographic rag paper.

Foreshew wouldn't tell us the sex of the person she, the artist, has draped in a cloth she has hand-dyed so dramatically using plant materials and pigments including ochres redolent of "country". And in this case she's used materials from suburban Sydney (she lives in Glebe) where she has begun collaborating with a geoscientist to help her prepare what she calls "recipes" to cook for herself a wide range of potions to produce many colours for her dyes.

She would like us, looking at the picture, to wonder about who and what the figure is and to try to tune in to elements of gender, race, politics, spiritualty, spirit and history "all hidden in that image".

When you pause in your Canberra to Sydney scuttle to see the show, you'll be witnessing what the gallery's director Jane Cush rejoices are the touring fruits of Australia's richest Aboriginal art prize. She says the works "explore a myriad of social and personal subjects, including memory, identity, community, and land ... and showcase a variety of media and techniques, including photographs, paintings, handmade paper, sculptures and jewellery".

Contact the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery on (02)