Kate Ceberano portrait by Kathrin Longhurst wins 2021 Archibald Packing Room Prize

A “strong” portrait of celebrated Australian singer Kate Ceberano has won a popular art prize — for the second time.

Well-known Sydney painter Kathrin Longhurst won the 2021 Archibald Packing Room Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW on Thursday for her portrait of celebrated Australian singer and songwriter Kate Ceberano.

Ceberano said she was “so excited for Kathrin and so proud to be supporting such a phenomenal artist”.

Kate Ceberano in the winning Archibald Packing Room Prize.

“She has painted me inside and out of my skin. She’s given me dignity and power without words,” Ceberano said.

“I feel the painting expressed my concern for the future, but I still feel strong. Like a proud “Mohican”. Especially today when so much of my work is being taken away by a culprit unseen and yet so calamitous.

“The artist and musician are essential to the world around us. We sing or paint our way through trauma and depressions and enable others to feel acknowledged for their existence by giving them a context without words.

“During the sitting we discussed this a lot and I felt uncharacteristically sober.

“I had just come out of 14-day hotel quarantine and I felt fragile and burdened with more change than I could handle at that time, so much to process.

“The sitting relaxed me and allowed me to share this with Kathrin and I’m so pleased that she captured all of this on the canvas.”

Artist Kathrin Longhurst with her winning portrait at the Gallery of NSW in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Ceberano could not be at the announcement, as she was quarantining after arriving from Melbourne to her Sydney home where she now resides.

Longhurst, who loves to champion women in her art practice, said it was Ceberano who approached her about doing a portrait in early 2020.

“She had seen my work at the home of mutual friends and asked if I was interested in painting her next album cover because she liked the way I portray women as strong and powerful,” Longhurst said.

Ceberano had become “all emotional” when she saw the finished portrait of herself at Longhurst’s Allambie home, the artist said.

The long lockdown in Melbourne, where Ceberano was then living, meant the album cover never happened.

Archibald Prize entries on display at the Gallery of NSW in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

“But we decided to paint the portrait to create a record of Kate at this important moment in her life and as a legacy for her daughter,” Longhurst said.

“I painted her larger than life, looking fiercer and stronger than ever before.”

An Australian entertainment icon, Ceberano has released 28 albums over 40 years and was the first woman inducted into the Australian Songwriters Association Hall of Fame in 2014.

Head packer Brett Cuthbertson, who chooses the Packing Room Prize winner with the help of his team, including John Freckleton who first spotted Longhurst’s painting as a contender as it came out of its travelling package, said this was the second time a Packing Prize had gone to a portrait of Ceberano.

Artist Kathrin Longhurst with head packer Brett Cuthbertson, who selected the winner along with his team. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Back in 1994 a portrait of the singer in the nude by Peter Robertson won the Packing prize.

“Kate’s still looking great,” Cuthbertson said.

A prelude to the main Archibald Prize announcement which will happen next Friday June 4, the Packing Room Prize is awarded by the gallery’s team of art handlers.

This is the 100th year of the Archibald, Brett Cuthbertson’s 40th year as an employee of the AGNSW, and the 30th year of the Packing Room Prize.