Archibald People’s Choice awarded to portrait of Marcia Langton
The portrait is by Sydney artist Angus McDonald, a seven-time Archibald Prize finalist, who previously won the People’s Choice award in 2020.
Sydney artist Angus McDonald has claimed the People’s Choice Award at the 2024 Archibald Prize for his portrait of Indigenous professor and activist Marcia Langton AO.
The painting, standing at an imposing 154.5 x 271.5 centimetres, presents Langton with a steely gaze, her expression one of defiance. The background is all sky, deep blue, with wispy purple clouds.
This marks McDonald’s second triumph in the People’s Choice category, having previously won in 2020 for his portrait of Kurdish-Iranian writer and refugee Behrouz Boochani.
McDonald, who has been a finalist in the prestigious portraiture competition seven times, now joins the ranks of only five artists to have won the award more than once since its inception in 1988.
Reflecting on the accolade, McDonald expressed elation and a sense of shared honour with Langton. “I think the great thing about the People’s Choice award is that it’s an award that can be shared naturally between the artist and the subject,” McDonald tells The Australian.
When asked what he believes the win says about the audience who voted for it, McDonald says, “I feel very strongly that when someone’s voting for that portrait, they might be voting in part for the painting that I’ve done, but they’re definitely also expressing a view of respect, admiration, and affection for Marcia herself, maybe even gratitude.
“The idea that that award was really saying something about both artist and sitter is probably the most wonderful part of it. I feel it’s something we really share together.”
McDonald, who is based in Lennox Head, flew to Melbourne in February 2023 to meet with Langton at her home for a live sitting. “I consider her a very important person in Australian social history and someone that I’ve always admired a lot and who has inspired me personally,” he said of choosing his prize-winning subject.
He adds that with his painting, he was attempting to convey “The story of Marcia and, more broadly, the issues she has been struggling with and fighting for, for more than fifty years.”
McDonald had hoped to complete the portrait ahead of The Voice referendum and enter it in the 2023 competition, but ran out of time. “I felt like that portrait wasn’t necessarily about The Voice,” he explains, adding, “I wanted to get it included for last year so that it might be a way for people to learn about Marcia’s story and her involvement in The Voice.”
Asked whether the outcome of the referendum had any influence on the final portrait, he explains that it didn’t change the way he painted the picture, and that the work was “always more of a tribute to someone I think is important and that I admire.”
“It was always about a person that has been struggling for Indigenous recognition, reconciliation, and justice for our First Nations people for a long, long time. This struggle has involved many small victories and many disappointments, but of course, The Voice to Parliament referendum failing, I’m sure Marcia would say, was one of her greatest disappointments.
McDonald is also a subject in this year’s Archibald, captured in a portrait by artist Mostafa Azimitabar. Azimitabar, who McDonald affectionately calls “Moz,” was the subject of his debut feature film Freedom is Beautiful, which premiered at last year’s Sydney International Film Festival and won the best Australian documentary at the 2023 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
Freedom is Beautiful follows two Kurdish friends, Azimitabar and Farhad Bandesh, who spent six years in detention on Manus Island and a further 18 months in hotel detention in Melbourne. McDonald met them while they were still in detention in 2020. “In the course of making that film we became very close friends,” McDonald explains of their creative relationship. “I’m a really big supporter of him as an artist. That friendship really came about as of the work we did together.”
Visitors to the Archibald Prize exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW are invited to vote for their favourite portrait, with 21,663 entering the poll. McDonald receives $5000 for his win, while voter Kenny Mac has won $2000.
Last year’s People’s Choice winner was Jaq Grantford for her portrait of Noni Hazlehurst.
The winner of the $100,000 Archibald Prize, announced in June, was Sydney artist Laura Jones, for her portrait of author and environmentalist Tim Winton. Her win made her the 12th woman to win the prize in its 103-year history.
Melbourne street artist Matt Adnate took out the Packing Room Prize, worth $3,000, with his portrait of Yolngu rapper Baker Boy.
Selected from 1,005 entries, the 57 finalists in the Archibald Prize include portraits of recently freed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Brisbane actor Jacob Elordi.
All finalists in Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes 2024 will be exhibited at the Art Gallery until Sunday 8 September 2024.
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