Sophia Alone: Port Hedland Indigenous artist takes home prestigious Richard Lester art prize

A Port Hedland Indigenous artist has taken home one of the nations most prestigious art awards, winning more than $50,000 for her encapsulating portrait of her grandfather.

Sophia Alone won the Richard Lester Prize on Friday at the Art Gallery of WA for her heartfelt portrait entitled Respect Grandfather Kutri Makanykarra.

Going up against 40 Australian artists, Ms Alone took home first place and $50,000 in prize money, as well as winning the the Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize worth $10,000.

The First Nations artist painted her Ngarla Elder grandfather on 44.5 x 44.5cm canvas in acrylic paint, with the judges saying they were “immediately drawn to the intimacy of the work.”

Colin Walker, Penelope Grist and Jessyca Hutchens made up the judging panel for the prestigious award ceremony, noting that Ms Alone’s work “draws you in close” while also opening you up to the “wider world and context of family and country.”

“The way the details of the face were sensitively captured give a sense of her grandfather’s character, personality, and close relationship with the artist,” the judges said.

“The vibrant contrasting colours and brushwork create a unique energy that brings the portrait to life.”

At the time of submitting her work, Ms Alone reminisced about the inspiration behind her painting saying she was with her grandfather standing at “Losers Hole” visiting a family grave site.

“We were visiting a grave site at De-Grey Station where his family is resting,” Ms Alone said.

“Grandfathers Father is at Blue-Bar. Grandfather expresses how much bush fruits were around De-Grey because him and his mate, spotted a fruit called Jababi.

“Then they started talking about the people and places around De-Grey, like Diesela and Marlu.”

Other prize winners announced at the ceremony included Victorian artist Greg Creek who won the Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize, worth $15,000, for his die-cast speech painting of David Sequeira.

NSW artist Julia Donney won the Ashurst Emerging Artist award, worth $5,000, for her piece dubbed Smoko.

Victorian artist Mark Chu and Tasmanian artist Nicholas Hopwood both won the Oxlades Highly Commended award for their pieces Here in Spirit and Quest respectively.

The Lester Prize is one of the nation’s most recognised and prestigious art prizes and is now in its sixteenth year, with more than 700 artists from across Australia entering the competition for 2022.

Ms Alone’s work, as well as the work of the other finalists, will be on display at the Art Gallery of WA from October 1 to November 20.