People's Choice Award announcement

- Entering the Darling Portrait Prize and my painting of Wendy Bowman. I met Wendy last year. I had been looking for interesting people in my local area that do amazing things, and Wendy's name had continuously popped up. And then I went round to see her, and actually it astounded me when I really got the full story of who she was and what she had been doing. Wendy has been an advocate for the environment for 30, 40 years, and she's obviously gained a great reputation, she started the organisation, Lock the Gate, which was about the mining corporations that are able to just walk onto farm lands and acquire these properties, which had happened to Wendy, she'd actually, one of her first properties had been acquired and she'd been kicked off that original property, and then she went on to another one and the mining companies acquired that property as well. And then the third time, came around and Wendy just said, "I've had enough of this," and she actually said, that's when she took it to the Land and Environment Court, and that was a big battle, but she actually won, which was the first case that ever beaten a the mining company to say that, "You could not acquire that property." So she was the perfect candidate for a portrait. She is a very strong woman, she's got incredible character and painting her was an absolute joy. So my 20 odd years of photography, I spent several times, I went round to see Wendy and I shot several different portraits, and I guess over that time, you get to know your subject a little bit more and more, and that's what it's all about, so that when you go back and you're looking at which photos you want to work from, there's a photo that stands out and gives you, I guess, the most about that person. And there was one picture in particular, although I'd cropped in quite heavily, it was that picture, that stance that she had that really set it off for me. And so that's how I got to the painting that I did.

- That's awesome, yeah. I mean, I think you remember at the opening and stuff. It was a really popular work and people were getting photos taken with it. And it certainly got a lot of comments in the time we were open before we shut down. But we've actually got a little sneaky surprise for you as well, some good news is that you have won the People's Choice Award for the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize.

- Kidding me right?

- I'm not kidding

- Yes! Well, that's fabulous news. I've got goosebumps. I kid you not, that's... I'm shocked, I'm shocked. I am shocked because there was so many incredible portraits in that competition. I was overwhelmed to be part of it, to be honest. I thought the competition and the standard was incredibly high, some great subjects and some incredible painters. So I'm a little bit lost for words because that's incredible news. And now, I mean, I'm trying to sync it, I'm trying to take it in as well, that I've also won the People's Choice in two different categories at the National Portrait Gallery.

- You're well loved here! So your prize as well is actually, so the prize is $10,000 thanks to the generous support of the Liangis family as well. So I'm sure that'll come in handy during these times?

- Oh, absolutely. That, if anyone that really knows me, of course I've had great success in an outwardly, wild, as the wide society looks, but it's never been about money from my end. So my priorities have always been about my art first and foremost, even back in the very beginning, when I would eat two minute noodles and stay on the ride and just make sure I had the best film and my cameras and as I started with the painting, I started my painting career saying, "I just want the best paints and the best linens and..." All that good quality stuff. And you cherish the idea that my work will represent who I am more than the money I might doing it. So this will be incredibly helpful to me. We're just about to potentially acquire a new property that will allow me to have a decent-sized studio, because I'm painting in the back of that little gallery here, and I've only got a small space, so that's just awesome, that's awesome.

- I'm glad it'll help your practice so much. That's the thing it's gonna assist you really, to just keep telling those stories that you tell us through portraiture.

- I am really overwhelmed by this, And I thank you to everyone, thank you to everyone that voted. Wendy is an amazing woman. It's funny, I kinda came back from the Darling Prize, so inspired by the work that was there. I've actually completed my painting already because I just wanted to come back and get working on it already. And I feel I've created a, I'm really proud of the new painting I've done, so I can't wait to submit that later in the year.