Archibald Prize 2021: Kate Ceberano portrait packs roomful of punch
A portrait of ‘dignity and power’ of Kate Ceberano has won the Packing Room Prize | FINALISTS’ FULL GALLERY
Sitting for Sydney artist Kathrin Longhurst while having her portrait painted was something Kate Ceberano welcomed like a gentle, soothing therapy.
The singer had just emerged from mandatory quarantine and was feeling raw and fragile when she sat with Longhurst in November last year, for a potential album cover.
MORE: See all 52 Archibald Prize finalists here
Longhurst’s painting, depicting Ceberano in a strong and confident pose against a red background, was on Thursday named as winner of the $3000 Packing Room Prize, a prelude to next week’s Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.
“She’s registered the many frequencies that were going on in me that day,” Ceberano said.
“We talked about my music and craft. It was a beautiful therapy, to have someone quietly watch, and I was having a bit of a rave, a bit of a cry.”
Longhurst said she often depicted strong and self-assured women in her work. She grew up in the former East Berlin and spending her early life under communism, she said, had given her a fervent belief in the power of creative freedom.
“Under a regime, art is there to promote an ideology, there is no freedom, you had to paint propaganda,” she said.
“Art for me is all about that freedom of expression.”
A theme of resilience and survival was evident across several of the 52 paintings selected as Archibald finalists in the centenary year of the prize.
Kirsty Neilson painted a small oil painting of sexual abuse survivor and Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, while Pat Hoffie entered a portrait of her daughter, Visaya Hoffie, who endured a horrific accident last year on the New York subway.
Another accident survivor, Sam Bloom, was painted by Ann Cape in a portrait that includes husband Cam and pet magpie Penguin Bloom.
The oldest subject among the finalists, painted by Peter Wegner, is Sydney artist Guy Warren, 100, who himself won the Archibald in 1985.
Other portraits in the prize exhibition include poet Sarah Holland-Batt, NSW Governor Margaret Beazley and film director Rachel Perkins.
Gallery head packer Brett Cuthbertson had the deciding vote for the Packing Room Prize.
Ceberano flew from Melbourne to Sydney for the announcement but did not to attend out of social responsibility, given the Covid breakout in Melbourne.
The $100,000 Archibald Prize will be announced on June 4.
