"An unknown Melbourne artist, Lynn Savery, said she “really thought she was going to faint” after winning the $150,000 Doug Moran national portrait prize, for a self-portrait which she says aims to challenge “socially constructed” gender norms.
"The 58-year-old artist from East Kew has been a full-time carer until recently, and was unknown before Thursday morning’s announcement; she has no artist website, and has not entered a painting prize before. This is her first oil painting and her first portrait, but she has “dabbled in drawing and other things,” she told Guardian Australia.
"Savery has a background in furniture design, and a PhD in international politics and human rights. Most recently, though, she’s been looking after her husband, who has cancer, and her father, who had dementia until he died in February this year, on her birthday.
"Her husband is at home, looking after their blind shih-tzu. “He has made it through so far, but it’s been a gruelling time … it leaves you kind of shattered,” she said. “Painting was really just about being able to have a bit of peace and quiet … it was a respite, I suppose.”
"In her artist statement, Savery said she posed with a manspread and “casual lean” to “illustrate how body posture contributes to gender stereotypical impressions”. She told the Guardian: “That’s the feminist in me! Did you know they banned manspreading in Madrid? I was like, ‘Yay!’
"...At her feet in the portrait sits an English bulldog, Clementine: “[She] is a good friend of mine and I wanted to capture her physical and emotional presence in this work.”
Due to the nature of the prize, which is to be kept unknown from the winner until the announcement, the publicist said she was unable to ascertain anything about the winner other than the suburb she lived in, and – thanks to a thorough online search – her proclivity for vintage clothes.
"Savery almost fainted when she was announced the winner. “My knees were turning to jelly and I thought, oh jeez, I’m going to cry. And I did – well, I sort of managed to just hold it off, but I kind of just wanted to run away!”
"Her work was selected over paintings by Doug Moran and Archibald prize luminaries such as Vincent Fantauzzo, who painted Asher Keddie; Nick Stathopoulos, who painted fellow artist Natasha Walsh; and Peter Smeeth, who painted Kate McClymont. Past winners include Prudence Flint, Ben Quilty, Tim Storrier and Fiona Lowry.
"The surprise win has resonances with Warren Crossett’s win of the 2015 prize for his own self-portrait – the first prize he had ever entered. (“My wife is going to lose the plot when she finds out,” he told Fairfax at the time.) A year later, part-time cleaner Megan Seres won the prize for a painting of her daughter."
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