The artist Angus McDonald has won the 2024 Archibald prize people’s choice category for his portait of Indigenous rights leader and academic Marcia Langton.
McDonald, a seven-time Archibald finalist, is just the fifth artist ever to win the $5,000 people’s choice category more than once, having also won it in 2020 for his portrait of human rights campaigner Behrouz Boochani.
The artist said he was “thrilled” that his painting was voted the public’s favourite.
“It’s a privilege to be able to share Marcia’s inspirational story with a wider audience through this painting,” he said. “Receiving the award is a special honour to me, but, equally, it’s as much a strong vote of respect and admiration for Marcia Langton and acknowledges the profound part she has played in the struggle for Indigenous recognition and reconciliation in this country for over 50 years,” he said.
McDonald travelled from his home in Lennox Head to meet with Langton at her Melbourne home for a sitting.
“Marcia is charismatic, curious, direct and one of our country’s deepest thinkers,” he said. “She has a well of stories which she relates with razor-sharp detail and humour, and, at the same time, she radiates kindness and warmth. I wanted to portray her as both a pivotal figure in Australian history and someone who has lived an incredible life.
“I placed her just right of centre to suggest a sense of stepping away and handing the baton to a younger group of activists after a lifetime of tireless commitment. She gazes up and to the left to reflect that she has persistently followed her own path.”
McDonald was an Archibald finalist in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2020 and 2024. A portrait of McDonald by fellow artist and friend Mostafa Azimitabar was also nominated for this year’s Archibald prize.
Langton, a descendant of the Yiman and Bidjara nations of Queensland, is a academic, writer and activist who has worked to advance Indigenous Australian rights for decades. She was a prominent leader in last year’s Indigenous voice to parliament referendum and, with Prof Tom Calma, co-wrote the final report presented to the former Coalition government in 2021 that laid out, in detail, how an Indigenous body could work in consultation with government at both national and state levels.
Langton said: “I love the picture both as a portrait and as a work of art. Many friends and colleagues have sent me images of themselves in front of the work since the Archibald prize opened and that has been gratifying.
“I am so thrilled and excited that the portrait has won the people’s choice award and I’m very sorry that I cannot be there to share in the moment.”
The Art Gallery of New South Wales director, Michael Brand, said McDonald’s work was a clear favourite among the public and said it “perfectly captures her strength and determination, and the weight of responsibility she carries as an advocate for the rights of her community”.
This year 21,663 votes were cast for the people’s choice category.
The $100,000 Archibald prize was won by Laura Jones for her portrait of novelist Tim Winton. All finalists in Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes 2024 will be exhibited at the Art Gallery until Sunday 8 September 2024, with the Archibald finalists later touring New South Wales and, for the first time, the Northern Territory.
