© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Darling Portrait Prize 2024 Finalist
Richard Butler Bowdon
born South Africa 1957, Australia from 1964
Nyadol Nyuon OAM 2023
oil on canvas
‘This portrait depicts Nyadol Nyuon, a community advocate for social justice, legal reform, multiculturalism and human rights. The portrait is the result of life sketches and photographs taken during a sitting at the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre in Melbourne where she is Director. I first heard about Nyadol while working as an English teacher delivering programs to assist South Sudanese refugees settle in Australia. She herself comes from a refugee background. It is my hope that this work distils and articulates Nyadol’s quiet strength, drive, professional acumen and considerable tenacity in the face of adversity.’
South-African born Richard Butler Bowdon
is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist, who has worked
across painting, collage and installation.
He describes his practice as the outcome of an ‘open and
non-hierarchical curiosity in humanity’.
© The artist
The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial national prize for Australian portrait painting honouring the legacy of Mr L Gordon Darling AC CMG.
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