The least-known faces tell some of the most fascinating stories in this year’s Archibald Prize for portraits
SOME of the most fascinating life stories in this year’s Archibald Prize lie behind the least famous faces on the walls.
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SOME of the best stories in this year’s Archibald Prize lie behind the least famous faces on view.
As usual, many of the subjects who appear in artists’ portraits are actors and comedians, television presenters and musicians. But then there’s Roy Kennedy, a Wiradjuri man who grew up on an Aboriginal mission, whose life story is just as interesting. Kennedy is an artist whose works, inspired by his childhood, hang in the Art Gallery of NSW and the National Gallery of Australia.
There’s Amber Boardman whose Archibald self-portrait parodies selfie culture and the mania for “self care”. Boardman has painted herself in the bath, surrounded by candles, self-help books, a yoga mat and a wig.
And there’s Charlotte Drake-Brockman, 84, who lives in the old Murrurundi power station in the Hunter Valley. At an age when most people are winding down, Drake-Brockman makes huge metal sculptures and chops her own firewood.
And there’s Pat Corrigan, whose philanthropy and artist friendships help keep the Sydney art world bubbling along.
Kennedy, Boardman, Drake-Brockman and Corrigan are not what you would call celebrities. But they still meet the Archibald criteria that sitters should be “distinguished in arts, letters, science or politics”.
Roy Kennedy, 84, lived from the ages of three to 17 in Police Paddock Mission at Darlington Point, near Griffith. His grandparents spoke no English, so they were excluded from the fenced mission. They remained just outside on the banks of the Murrumbidgee where they lived a traditional life.
Kennedy recalls leaving the mission at night and warming himself by his grandparents’ fire. He listened to their stories and they taught him to hunt.
The police and the church wielded ultimate authority over the indigenous people of the mission and Kennedy still harbours bad memories of the Aboriginal Protection Board.
“They treated us like mongrels,” he says.
He left the mission to become a farm worker and shearer before drifting to Sydney. There, at the age of 61, he enrolled in an art course at Eora Centre for Aboriginal Studies and developed a love of etching. He made pictures of Police Paddock Mission in almost topographical detail, which are both pieces of indigenous contemporary art and vessels of cultural memory.
Adam Hill (aka Blak Douglas) is a Dhungutti man who painted Kennedy for the Archibald. Kennedy and Hill have been friends for years and lunch together weekly at Cafe Ella in Darlington.
At the AGNSW two weeks ago, Hill and Kennedy spoke to a group of Aboriginal students, Hill explaining that his friend’s printmaking practice inspired him to render Kennedy’s face in black and white.
Around the corner from the portrait of Kennedy hangs Amber Boardman’s self-portrait, Self Care Exhaustion. It depicts Boardman’s alter ego, Jade, who is so busy being “mindful” and ensuring she eats enough kale that it uses up most of her energy. Nevertheless, Jade is compelled to treat her body like a temple.
“It’s almost like you have to feel bad about yourself if you aren’t doing enough self-care,” Boardman says.
But the artist makes no judgment about the self-care trend, and her work has enormous humour.
When artist David Darcy moved into the old fish and chip shop at Murrurundi two years ago, Charlotte Drake-Brockman marched up and introduced herself.
“Charlotte was the first local to invite me over for a beer,” Darcy says.
Drake-Brockman was born in England and migrated to Australia in 1964. She moved to Murrurundi in 1986 with Viv Carter, the well-known jazz drummer who died two years ago aged 80. Drake-Brockman and Carter never married, but loved each other for 42 years.
“He wouldn’t marry me — he said I kept divorcing them,” the twice-divorced Drake-Brockman says.
Drake-Brockman shares a studio with fellow Murrurundi artist Fran Wachtel. The two women made the large steel sculptures located at the entrance to the town — one with sheep and the other with farm workers sitting on a gate.
Now the two artists are preparing for an exhibition of their collaborative sculptures to be held at Tamworth Regional Gallery in about 18 months.
Artists admire Pat Corrigan because he not only buys their work, he is genuinely interested in their lives. He’s bought the work of contemporary artists such as Tracey Moffatt, Alex Seton, Ben Quilty, Michael Zavros and Jonathan Jones. But he’s just as likely to give a young artist $100 to buy wine for their exhibition opening.
Corrigan was painted by Joanna Braithwaite for this year’s Archibald. In the past, Corrigan has been painted by lots of artists, leading Braithwaite to include many of these works in her own portrait.
Corrigan is known for giving artworks to public galleries, including a large collection of memorabilia to Maitland Regional Art Gallery.
The collection included signed celebrity portraits including cricketer Don Bradman and astronaut Neil Armstrong. And he’s still an avid collector.
“It’s a bit of a disease,” Corrigan says.