By JESSE GRAHAM
AN UPWEY artist is taking aim at a national art award, creating a towering portrait of Healesville identity, Aunty Dot Peters, for this year’s Archibald Prize.
Upwey artist Justine Indigo-Rose is in the running for the 2015 Archibald Prize after sending off a portrait of Aunty Dot standing two metres tall.
Ms Indigo-Rose spoke with the Mail about the portrait after presenting Aunty Dot with the painting, the weekend before it was sent to Sydney on Monday 22 June.
She said that, through her work with Belgrave Survival Day and the Healesville Indigenous Community Services Association (HICSA), she heard of and saw first-hand the work of Aunty Dot.
Aunty Dot is renowned for her work in progressing reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, particularly her work for the recognition of Indigenous soldiers and service people in conflicts such as World War II.
After encouraging the Healesville RSL to take part in Reconciliation Week in 2006, the first Victorian Indigenous Men and Women Remembrance Service was held at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.
“I’ve been an artist for a long time and I like being involved in public art or art that wants to communicate something,” she said.
“She’s very important, and it’s important to pay recognition to people while they’re still here.
“The Archibalds is a good chance to profile Australians for all sorts of things that they’ve done or achieved – often it can get a bit entertainment-oriented, so it’s really nice to celebrate other lives and other achievements in our country.”
Aunty Dot, on the day she was presented with the portrait, said she was “flattered” by the piece, which Ms Indigo-Rose said took roughly 100 hours and two sittings to complete.
“I’m flattered that she wants to paint me like that,” Aunty Dot said.
“It’s great.”
The Archibald Prize has been running for the last 94 years, and is judged by the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The prize was started to “foster portraiture as well as support arts and perpetuate the memory of great Australians”, according to the Gallery of NSW’s website.
Finalists will have their pieces hung in the gallery, and Ms Indigo-Rose said she will find out whether her piece has been announced as a finalist in mid-July.
For more information on the Archibald Prize, visit artgallery.nsw.gov.au.
