Ben Quilty was one of Australia's most famous painters, when he entered into an unusual friendship with a condemned man. Myuran Sukumaran was a convicted drug smuggler on death row in Indonesia. He was a member of a group of imprisoned Australians known as the Bali Nine. Ben was invited to teach Myuran how to paint, as a way to help him cope with his sentence, and he soon started to reveal an artistic talent. The two men gradually developed a close connection, but it was severed by a firing squad.



Image: (L) Myuran Sukumaran and (R) Ben Quilty

Credit: Andrew Quilty