The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) Friday announced Laura Jones as the winner of the prestigious Archibald Prize, Australia’s leading portraiture award, per ocula.com. This marks the 104th year of the competition, with Jones becoming the 12th woman to receive the accolade.
“This is such an incredible thrill,” Jones said, expressing her hope that her victory would inspire young girls to pursue careers in art. Her winning portrait features Perth-based writer Tim Winton, whom she described as “incredible and inspiring.” The two met while advocating for the Great Barrier Reef’s preservation.
Winton, initially hesitant about being a subject, was captivated by Jones’s previous works depicting coral bleaching. “I had seen Laura’s paintings of the Great Barrier Reef coral gardens, including her beautiful and tragic depictions of coral bleaching, so I was a little more curious and open than usual,” he admitted.
The AGNSW also announced the winners of the AU $50,000 Wynne Prize for landscape painting and the AU $40,000 Sulman Prize for genre painting or mural projects. Djakaŋu Yunupiŋu won the Wynne Prize for her pigment on bark painting Nyalala gurmilili, which illustrates the miwatj, or ‘sunrise side,’ in Yolŋu Matha language. “The songs of this painting were given to me by our father, Muŋgurrawuy,” Yunupiŋu shared. “It shows the songs of the seven sisters in the stars crying. Now I am crying, but this time with happiness.”
Naomi Kantjuriny received the Sulman Prize for her painting Minyma mamu tjuta, which portrays mamu spirits. “Mamu are good and bad spirits, sometimes they hold scary stories that teach lessons to the grandkids, sometimes they are funny and joyful stories that make us all laugh,” Kantjuriny explained. “Our culture is in everything we do, and I hope culture will be celebrated at Tjala Arts forever.”
Finalist works from all three prizes will be displayed at the AGNSW from June 8 to September 8, 2024. Additionally, the AGNSW announced the Packing Room Prize winner, selected by gallery staff, awarded to Matt Adnate for his painting of Indigenous Australian rapper Baker Boy, titled Rhythms of Heritage.
- Featured image: Laura Jones, Tim Winton. Oil on linen. 198 x 152.5 cm. © the artist/Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.
