Last week, the finalists for the 2024 Archibald prize were unveiled by the Art Gallery of NSW. Among the selected group are paintings of famous faces, self-portraits and even artists painting fellow artists.
The Archibald is Australia’s most prestigious and celebrated art prize in portraiture, held every year — all the way back to 1921. Every year, the Archibald prize receives over 700 entries from Australian and New Zealander artists, with only 57 finalists.
This year, the Archibald Prize finalists included talented artists and sitters with disability.
Among the selected group are four artists from Studio A, an enterprise paving the way for artists with intellectual disability to achieve their artistic passions as a viable career.
“I am so proud for my Archibald Prize painting,” says Meagan Pelham, a Studio A artist whose painting ‘Highlight in the moonlight’ was selected.
“I feel happiness, happy artist, top model! It’s a highlight of being an artist.”
Meagan and her fellow Studio A artist Daniel Kim have both been named as finalists for a second time, while Emily Crockford and Thom Roberts have been selected for an incredible fourth time. Thom has also been named a finalist in the Sulman Prize.
“Recognition in the Archibald Prize really brings Studio A artists legitimacy as 'artists',” says Studio A.
"Despite Studio A's consistent communication that we are a visual art studio, we are constantly assumed to be a recreational art therapy program. Selection as Archibald Finalists has really broken through this entrenched and limiting stereotype and we are inspired to see the artworld increasingly recognise the work of diverse artists."
“This is the result of years of work… The quality and content of the work firmly demonstrates how neurodivergent artists are meaningfully contributing to Australian culture.”
Also featured among the finalists is a portrait of actor Chloé Hayden by Jessie Bourke. Chloé, who was diagnosed autistic as a teenager, is well known for portraying Quinni, an autistic character in Netflix's Heartbreak High. The technicolour artwork titled ‘Different, Not less’, is to celebrate differences.
Congratulations to all the finalists featured in this year’s Archibald Prize.
The full list of finalists can be seen on the gallery’s website and on 7 June, the winner will be announced. The $100,000 prize is awarded to the best portrait of a person ‘distinguished in art, letters, science or politics’ painted by an Australian resident.
The finalists for the Archibald prize will be on show at the AGNSW from 8 June until 8 September.
*All images were supplied courtesy of artists and Studio A.
