Arrernte/Kalkadoon filmmaker and producer Rachel Perkins (b. 1970) grew up in Canberra, one of the three children of civil rights activist Charlie Perkins and his wife Eileen. At eighteen she moved to Alice Springs and undertook a traineeship at the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association, and at 22 she founded Blackfella Films. Its award-winning for television include First Australians (2008), Mabo (2012), Redfern Now (2012, 2013), Total Control (2019, 2021) and The Australian Wars (2022). As a director and screenwriter, Perkins' credits include Radiance (1998), Bran Nue Day (2010), Jasper Jones (2017) and the television series Mystery Road (2019, 2020).
In painting this work, artist Thea Anamara Perkins, the sitter's niece, said she wanted to 'acknowledge what she's done for our country as a filmmaker.' The designs on her skin belong to a women's ceremonial song which resonated with the artist as a 'joyful assertion of the incredible matriarchy in our culture, our dreaming, … melding beautifully with the contemporary experience of a First Nations person on the journey to preserve our dynamic culture.'
Purchased 2022
© Thea Anamara Perkins
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Joanna Gilmour reflects on 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.
from Saturday 15 March
Gallery Three features major new acquisitions, collection highlights and favourites.
