Archibald Prize

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2024

Exhibition text:

Anna Mould’s subject is Joan Ross, a Scottish-born Australian artist whose work examines the ongoing effects of colonisation in Australia. Ross is a previous Archibald finalist herself, won the 2017 Sulman Prize and has a work in this year’s Wynne Prize.

‘Joan is a friend and mentor of mine, and a supporter of emerging Australian artists. Drawing on our shared ideas, Complicit is a portrait of privilege,’ says Mould, a first-time Archibald finalist.

‘Joan appears as a queen, swathed in robes, shimmering with the hi-vis yellow hue that recurs throughout her own work. Surrounded by bejewelled symbols of power, she wears the Crown of Scotland and reaches for the Sovereign’s Orb, which symbolises the Christian world and, by extension, the British monarch’s dominion.

‘A golden outline of Australia is embroidered on the globe. The painting references neoclassical representations of Queen Victoria and contemporary photographic portraits of the late Queen Elizabeth II, as well as elements of Joan’s work, which frequently borrows from 19th-century colonial art,’ says Mould.

‘The application of watery paint seeks to undermine the sense of power and strength usually projected by royal and aristocratic portraits, and challenges illusions of divine and infallible authority.’

www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au