Billionaire Gina Rinehart has asked the National Portrait of Australia to remove her portrait from the exhibition.
The portrait in question was made by Aboriginal artist Vincent Namatjira. It is part of a current retrospective of the artist currently on display at the National Gallery of Australia. About two dozen portraits are part of the exhibition, including the likes of Queen Elizabeth, Thomas Cook, and Namatjira himself. Previously, the retrospective was displayed at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
However, many soon pointed out that a certain portrait – that of Gina Rinehart – did not put her in the best of light. The portrait featured her with pinkish skin, exaggerated skin folds, and a frown. Many Australian publications, including the Sydney Morning Herald, called it “unflattering”. Later, it was reported that Rinehart had urged the National Museum to remove the painting from the exhibition, which the museum refused to do. The news, however, caught steam and brought backlash from many who thought it was another classic case of billionaires using their undue influence.
Gina Rinehart, who made her fortunes from mining, is the richest person in Australia. She is also not new to controversies, like when in 2022 she stopped the funding of a netball team after a player refused to put the logo of her company on his t-shirt. Vincent Namatjira is a well-known Aboriginal artist in Australia. In 2020, he became the first indigenous artist to win the Archibald Prize.
