A Collegians connection with student artists

In February we shared the news of Megan Hales (Class of 2007) being selected as a finalist by the National Portrait Gallery for the Darling Portrait Prize award.

The winner of the the Darling Portrait Prize was awarded on the 5th March, whilst Megan did not claim the prize, being a finalist is an absolute honour and we feel very proud to celebrate Megan’s wonderful achievement.

Megan shared that the exhibition opening night was wonderful with a well-deserved winner announced. “The exhibition is great” she said. Megan highly recommends a visit to the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) to see the 40 portraits on display.

‘Mia at Home’, Megan explains is a painting that she began of Mia Wasikowska after seeing this leg in her living room. A carefully sculpted replica of Mia’s limb, it was made to be broken for a scene in a film where her character takes a fall. Ultimately the scene was cut, and the immortalised silicone part left at a former partner’s house. In a defiant act to reclaim self and body, Mia requested her leg be shipped home to Australia where, after some confusion in customs, the declared ‘artwork’ now stands. During our sitting by Mia’s green wall, I had in mind her knowing eyes and wit.

This week, Radford College Visual Arts teacher, Dimity Kidson took her Year 9 Visual Arts class to the NPG to view the portraits. The students recently completed fantastic portraits for the Young Archies Exhibition in Sydney. Dimity added that it was a delight to be able to show them the incredible work, ‘Mia at Home’, by Collegian, Megan Hales.