Behrouz Boochani portrait wins people’s choice award at the Archibald Prize

Artist and filmmaker Angus McDonald’s portrait of the refugee advocate is voted the most popular work in the exhibition.

Artist Angus McDonald with his portrait of Behrouz Boochani at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Before the lockdown this year, artist and filmmaker Angus McDonald spent a week in New Zealand with refugee advocate and author Behrouz Boochani, speaking with him and making sketches that would become a portrait for the Archibald Prize.

The picture — depicting Boochani as “strong, confident and peaceful” — was on Wednesday named the most popular portrait in the prize exhibition.

McDonald, from Lennox Head in northern NSW, had previously made a short documentary film about Manus Island that featured Boochani.

He said Boochani had never set foot in mainland Australia and yet had “earned the respect, admiration and even the love of so many Australians”.

“I worked out how to depict him in the portrait through the conversations I had,” McDonald said. “I wanted it to reflect how he was feeling after being free, and how he felt about the future.”

Boochani was detained as he attempted to enter Australia by boat in 2013 and was held in mandatory detention at Manus Island until 2017. From there he wrote his award-winning book about the experience of detainees, No Friend but the Mountains. He has since been granted refugee status in New Zealand.

In a statement Boochani said McDonald had taken the time to understand his experience of “injustice”.

“This work represents me as a person that exists, not a person who was created by media or what people want to see,” he said of the portrait.

Visitors to the Archibald Prize exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW are invited to vote for their favourite portrait and 13,645 people entered the poll.

McDonald said he shared the award with Boochani.

“I’ve depicted Behrouz directly engaging the viewer as a strong, confident and peaceful man who survived an ordeal and is now free,” he said. “Despite all he has been through, Behrouz remains dedicated to his work and is open, gentle and kind.”