Monica Rohan Lucy

The subject of Monica Rohan’s portrait is Lucy Culliton, a regular finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes, who has works in this year’s Archibald and Wynne.

‘Lucy is a beloved Australian artist known for her paintings of the vibrant garden and animal sanctuary of her home, as well as its rugged surrounds,’ says Rohan. ‘I wanted to paint Lucy’s portrait because I feel we share an interest in celebrating colours and patterns found in the everyday. As we walked through her beautiful garden, I had Lucy stand beneath a selection of her favourite flowering trees.

‘I wanted my painting to represent the natural connection Lucy has to the landscape she’s nurtured at her home. While working on the portrait back in my small studio in Brisbane, bushfires raged down south, creating a strange juxtaposition between the lush haven of Lucy’s garden in early spring and the harsh reality playing out on the news.’

Born in Queensland in 1990, Rohan graduated from the Queensland College of the Arts. She was an Archibald Prize finalist in 2016 with a double portrait of fashion designers Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson.