Sally Ross Autoportrait

‘I wanted to make a strong, female portrait that I just happened to be in,’ says Sally Ross. The inspirations for Autoportrait – French for self-portrait – range from early Renaissance paintings to modern art via 1960s mugshots.

‘I have referenced 15th-century Italian portraiture and the blue of my frock is borrowed (stolen) from Piero della Francesca. I nod to the peachy tones of Picasso’s rose period, Corot’s revolutionary portraits and Balthus’ exquisite palette,’ says Ross, who has had four previous works in the Archibald Prize, including one that is in the Archie 100 exhibition.

‘I took the pose from a 1967 police mugshot. I love a mugshot’s lack of vanity; there is no making love to the camera, just a sense of reluctant cooperation. As for the coiffure, I have a thing about the expressive potential of hair – its textural, impressionistic, haystack volume. Big hair, don’t care.

‘The introverted COVID-bubble of my studio was undisturbed by the niceties of painter/sitter banter this year; however I do look forward to the strange intimacy, awkwardness and thrill of painting someone else again.’