River patrol boat, Daly River

Landscape drawing of swamp area with figure in a patrol boat starting engine.

This work was created on Vykopal's second residency with NORFORCE, one of three Regional Force Surveillance Units employed to do surveillance and reconnaissance in remote Northern Australia. For this commission Vykopal walked alongside the men as an 'embedded' artist on three patrols across Arnhem land. It should be noted that NORFORCE is Australia's most racially integrated military contingent, with over 60% of the personnel of Aboriginal descent.

Vykopal's twenty works from this commission not only document the day-to-day activities of the personnel, but also the unique make-up of this unit. Some of the more unusual works also capture events from the Barunga festival in the Northern Territory where the artist saw the Darwin and Gove units performing military training drills. A number of the troops also performed in other dances, musical performances and competitions of which Vykopal felt compelled to draw.