Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, 29 September, the Archibald Prize Art After Hours Online program features a weekly dose of art and ideas hosted by Benjamin Law and featuring interviews with Archibald Prize finalists and their sitters about what it takes to compete in Australia’s favourite art award. The talks are live-streamed FREE from the Gallery’s Facebook page and YouTube channel on Wednesdays at 7.30pm – 8.00pm.
The schedule includes:
Meyne Wyatt in conversation with Benjamin Law
Wednesday 30 September 2020, 7:30pm – 8pm
Hear from the artist and actor about his prize-winning portrait. Actor and playwright Meyne Wyatt was stunned when he won the Archibald Packing Room Prize. A first-time entrant, he created the winning self-portrait as something to do during Sydney’s Covid-19 lockdown. Normally, Meyne treads the boards in theatres around the country, most recently attracting acclaim for his performance in the self-penned play City of gold, which gained a whole new audience when he performed a heart-stopping excerpt on ABC TV’s Q&A program. It was a bold call-to-arms for Indigenous rights. Tonight, Meyne shares his artistic and theatrical journeys with writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law, kicking off our series of interviews with finalists from Australia’s favourite art prize.
Meyne Wyatt is an Australian actor and writer who has appeared in theatre productions around the country. For his performance in Silent disco, Wyatt was named Best Newcomer at the 2011 Sydney Theatre Awards. He has worked with Bell Shakespeare company, and has appeared in The sapphires, The broken shore, The turning and Redfern now. In 2019, Meyne’s debut play City of gold opened to critical and commercial success, winning two Sydney Theatre Awards, including Best Actor in a Mainstage Production for his performance.
Benjamin Law is an Australian writer and broadcaster. He’s the author of The family Law (2010), Gaysia: adventures in the queer east (2012), the Quarterly Essay Moral panic 101 (2017), and editor of Growing up queer in Australia (2019). Benjamin created and co-wrote three seasons of the award-winning SBS TV series The family Law, based on his memoir, and his debut play Torch the place ran earlier this year (Melbourne Theatre Company). Benjamin co-hosts ABC RN’s weekly national pop culture show Stop everything and has appeared on a number of TV shows including Q&A (ABC), The drum (ABC) and The project (Ten).
Angus McDonald and Behrouz Boochani
Wednesday 7 October 2020, 7:30pm – 8pm
The Archibald-finalist and his journalist subject speak with Benjamin Law. Angus McDonald has wanted to paint Behrouz Boochani for some time, but his attempts to visit the journalist during his time at the Manus Island detention centre were thwarted by authorities. When Behrouz was granted asylum in New Zealand in late 2019, Angus finally had his chance, spending two weeks in Christchurch sketching and getting to know the personal side of his subject. The result is a larger-than-life portrait of a man whose astonishing story continues to loom large in the Australian consciousness. Benjamin Law interviews Angus and Behrouz, revealing more about the making of the portrait, Angus’s advocacy for refugee rights through art and film and the latest chapter in Behrouz’s epic journey: a new life of freedom in New Zealand.
Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish-Iranian writer, journalist, scholar, cultural advocate and filmmaker. Fleeing persecution in Iran, he sought asylum in Australia in 2013 and was detained by the Australian government for nearly 7 years on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. During his incarceration, he wrote the book No friend but the mountains: writing from Manus prison which won the Victorian Prize for Literature in 2019. His writing appears in the Guardian, the Saturday Paper, the Huffington Post, New Matilda, the Financial Times and the Sydney Morning Herald. In November 2019, Behrouz was granted asylum in New Zealand and now resides in Christchurch, where he has been appointed senior adjunct research fellow with the Ngai Tahu Research Center at the University of Canterbury.
Angus McDonald is an artist, a six-time Archibald Prize finalist and a documentary filmmaker. After graduating with an economics degree, McDonald studied painting at the Julian Ashton Art School, winning the school’s Brett Whiteley Scholarship in 1994. Since 1995, McDonald has staged 30 solo exhibitions across Australia and internationally. In 2017, he created a film project to advocate for more humanitarian approaches to managing the welfare of forcibly displaced people seeking asylum. His 2019 documentary film, Manus, based on footage filmed in secret inside the Manus Island detention centre, won festival awards both here and overseas. McDonald was also an ambassador for World Vision’s Kids off Nauru campaign.
Benjamin Law is an Australian writer and broadcaster. He’s the author of The family Law (2010), Gaysia: adventures in the queer east (2012), the Quarterly Essay Moral panic 101 (2017), and editor of Growing up queer in Australia (2019). Benjamin created and co-wrote three seasons of the award-winning SBS TV series The family Law, based on his memoir, and his debut play Torch the place ran earlier this year (Melbourne Theatre Company). Benjamin co-hosts ABC RN’s weekly national pop culture show Stop everything and has appeared on a number of TV shows including Q&A (ABC), The drum (ABC) and The project (Ten).
Brian Firkus (aka Trixie Mattel) and Kim Leutwyler
Wednesday 14 October 2020, 7.30pm – 8pm
The drag superstar and his portraitist speak with Benjamin Law. Fans of RuPaul’s drag race are in for a treat. Tonight, Benjamin’s guests are artist Kim Leutwyler and the subject of her Archibald-finalist portrait, Brian Firkus, otherwise known as drag superstar Trixie Mattel! Kim, who is known for her vibrant portraits of figures from the LGBTQI+ community, has painted Trixie before, dressed in his signature pink-and-yellow Barbie-inspired style. But for her 2020 Archibald Prize entry, Kim decided to paint Brian, the man behind the frocks and wigs, who has stunned audiences with his musical and performative prowess, both in and out of drag. Brian and Kim will share stories of the portrait’s genesis in Los Angeles, where Brian answered the door to Kim wearing only a towel, and the dazzling finished painting now hanging in Sydney.
Kim Leutwyler was born in the United States, migrating to Australia in 2012. She lives in Sydney and works in a variety of media including painting, installation, ceramics, printmaking and drawing. Kim is interested in painting as a medium because of its primarily masculine history in the western art canon – and has come focus on notions of beauty, gender and queer identity. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout Australia and the United States and she has been a finalist in the Archibald and Sulman Prizes, the Churchie Emerging Art Prize and the Portia Geach Memorial Award.
Trixie Mattel is the stage name of Brian Michael Firkus, an American singer, actor, drag queen and recognized ‘skinny legend’. Trixie is the winner of RuPaul’s drag race all stars, season 3. He is also a Billboard-charting recording artist (One stone, 2018), a wildly successful touring act, and one half of a comic duo with Katya (in the web series UNHhhh and I like to watch). In 2019, Trixie worked the festival circuit as the subject of a biographical documentary, Trixie Mattel: moving parts, and released his Skinny legend comedy special. This year finds Trixie releasing his third album Barbara, hitting the road on the Trixie Mattel: grown up tour and releasing a book with Katya called Trixie and Katya’s guide to modern womanhood.
Benjamin Law is an Australian writer and broadcaster. He’s the author of The family Law (2010), Gaysia: adventures in the queer east (2012), the Quarterly Essay Moral panic 101 (2017), and editor of Growing up queer in Australia (2019). Benjamin created and co-wrote three seasons of the award-winning SBS TV series The family Law, based on his memoir, and his debut play Torch the place ran earlier this year (Melbourne Theatre Company). Benjamin co-hosts ABC RN’s weekly national pop culture show Stop everything and has appeared on a number of TV shows including Q&A (ABC), The drum (ABC) and The project (Ten).
There will be another talk on Wednesday 21 October 2020, 7.30pm-8pm. The details are to be announced.
Featured image: Angus McDonald’s portrait of Behrouz Boochani