Archibald Prize People's Choice Award won by Loribelle Spirovski for portrait of William Barton

Australia Broadcast Center

31-07-2025

Loribelle Spirovski has won the People's Choice Award for the 2025 Archibald Prize for a portrait she painted with her fingers of Kalkadunga musician William Barton.
The Sydney-based Filipina Australian artist is a four-time Archibald Prize finalist, having previously painted actors John Bell (2017) and Nicholas Hope (2018), and musician Megan Washington (2019).
Spirovski is only the ninth woman to win the People's Choice Award since it was established in 1988. She is also a finalist in this year's Lester Prize, worth $50,000, for a painting of her partner, classical pianist Simon Tedeschi.
Her oil-on-canvas portrait of Barton — a composer and producer who plays the yidaki (didgeridoo) and guitar — is one of the largest in the exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), measuring almost 183 centimetres in height. That's compared to Barton himself, who stands at 188cm tall.
Spirovski had been recovering from a nerve injury that made painting painful for many years when she resolved to paint Barton. "Many times, I've questioned my role as an artist," she wrote in her artist statement. She even came close to giving up painting altogether.
It was listening to Barton's song 'Birdsong at Dusk' that inspired her to paint with her fingers instead of a brush.
"Without a brush, painting was almost painless. As the portrait painted itself, I felt alive in a way I hadn't for a very long time," she wrote.
Spirovski's win for People's Choice follows Julie Fragar winning the $100,000 Archibald Prize in May, for her portrait of artist Justene Williams, becoming the 13th woman to win the prize in 104 years. Earlier that month, Abdul Abdullah won the Packing Room Prize for his portrait of artist Jason Phu.
Selected from 904 entries, the 57 finalists in the Archibald Prize include portraits of 2025 Australian of the Year Neale Daniher, rapper and triple j host Nooky, author Kathy Lette, broadcaster Jackie O and actor Hugo Weaving.
Past winners of the People's Choice Award include Angus McDonald for his portrait of academic Marcia Langton (2024), Jaq Grantford for her portrait of actor Noni Hazlehurst (2023) and Jeremy Eden for his portrait of actor Samuel Johnson (2022).
The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2025 exhibition runs until August 17 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, followed by a regional tour.