Richard Lewer has been awarded the 2026 Archibald prize for his portrait of Pitjantjatjara elder, traditional healer and senior artist Iluwanti Ken. The New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based artist – a six-time Archibald finalist – was announced as the winner of the $100,000 prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Friday.
The judging panel, comprised of the gallery’s trustees, selected the work unanimously from a field of 59 finalists whittled down from 1,034 entries. In his acceptance speech, Lewer joked: “The best thing about winning this award is I’ll never be referred to as ‘Richard Lewer, the six- or seven-time finalist of the Archibald’.”
Gallery director Maud Page said of the winning work: “You see the strength of it, you see the poise. You see all of the things that we know makes Australia unique in the world.” Lewer described spending time with Ken at Tjala Arts in Amata, in the APY lands of South Australia, and painted her life-size against a yellow ochre background to convey the heat and light of their working environment.
Ken, a finalist in this year’s Wynne prize, joked with Lewer about wanting to look “a little bit younger and a little bit smiley”. Lewer said he felt pressure but was happy she was pleased with the painting. Michael Rose, director of the AGNSW board of trustees, said all judges were “immediately drawn” to the powerful and energetic portrait.
Alongside the Archibald, the $50,000 Wynne prize for landscape painting and figurative sculpture was awarded to Gaypalani Waṉambi for The Waṉambi tree. Sanné Mestrom was highly commended for her sculpture What the body knows.
