Wendy Sharpe Magda Szubanski – comedy and tragedy

‘I have always admired Magda – her humour, intelligence, activism and compassion. I loved her autobiography Reckoning,’ says Wendy Sharpe, who previously won the Archibald Prize in 1996 for a self-portrait.

A vocal advocate for LGBTQI rights, among other causes, Magda Szubanski AO is one of Australia’s most popular actors and comedians, best known for appearing as the netball-playing Sharon Strzelecki in the TV series Kath and Kim.

‘After an intense conversation with Magda in my Sydney studio, I decided to change my original concept for the portrait and painted her as a despairing version of her comic character/alter ego Sharon. Magda is haunted by her father’s traumatic experiences in World War II in the Polish resistance, and by current world events.’

Born in Sydney in 1960, Sharpe has now been a finalist in the Archibald seven times. She won the Sulman Prize in 1986 and the Portia Geach Memorial Award twice.