Portia Geach Memorial Award 2026

The painting that won this year's $30,000 prize is a self-portrait on a wood panel 15 by 20 centimetres, the smallest of the 59 finalists. Natasha Bieniek won the Portia Geach in 2015 the same way, with Sahara, an oil on wood 13.5 by 18.5 centimetres.

Florence Kate Geach set up the award in 1965 for her sister Portia, and the rules still hold: a woman artist in Australia, a portrait painted from life, of someone distinguished in art, letters or the sciences. This year's sitters include Anne Summers, Kumi Taguchi, the composer Elena Kats-Chernin, an Olympian and the co-founders of Capybara Bathing. More than 20 finalists painted themselves. You pass canvases two metres tall to reach a winner you could hold in two hands.

Read the sitter labels as closely as the paint. Entry is $15 ($12 concession, $42 family), Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm, at the door or on Eventbrite. After 1 November the winner goes to Brisbane for Bieniek's next show.