Figurative Artist, Portrait Painter and Metalsmith Sarah Anthony Awarded 2025 Kennedy Prize

Melbourne based figurative artist, portrait painter and metalsmith Sarah Anthony has been awarded the 2025 Kennedy Prize with her deeply personal painting representing the beauty of sharing family stories spanning four generations.

The renowned national visual arts competition attracted a high calibre of entries under the theme of 'Beauty' from Australia's finest visual artists for the $25,000 prize.

Sarah Anthony created the award-winning portrait entitled 'The Jigsaw' - using oil on board to share the story of her family through photographs capturing a portrait of generations intertwining.

"This work depicts my mother, Diana doing a jigsaw puzzle with my son, Sam", Anthony said. "The mismatched pieces show Diana's mother and father, Sgt. Phillip Brain (killed at age 27 in WW2) and Diana as a toddler with her twin brother, Richard. The toddler siblings were separated after the war and never met again".

For Anthony the work has created a permanent memory in the form of art and a vehicle for stories and people to continue to live on.

"As with memories, the jigsaw is incomplete and can never be fully pieced together. However, as Diana talks with her grandson passing on family stories there is a beautiful sense of closure".

Anthony's art evolves from personal life experiences that are often autobiographical and informed by an art therapy way of questioning and exploring. 'The Jigsaw' is one of her most personal works to date.

According to Kennedy Prize Coordinator, Mark Kennedy Anthony's work stood out to the judges for its deeply moving and cross generational play on Beauty.

"Honouring and celebrating family is at the heart of our Prize. Sarah's work is a reminder of ancestry, storytelling and keeping the spirit of people alive. This was a vision of my late father and Kennedy Prize founder, Robert Kennedy", Kennedy said.

Anthony was awarded the winner of the 2025 Kennedy Prize at Friday night's exhibition launch event in Adelaide.

The launch event also announced the winner of the Nyland Prize which awarded Sydney photographer Simone Osborne with a $5,000 prize for 'The Seeds of Silence'.

Osborne's interpretation of a quiet moment in nature caught the judge's attention for the photography award which is named after the Honourable Margaret Nyland.

50 finalists, including Anthony's winning work are on display at the Kennedy Prize exhibition in the Royal South Australian Society of the Arts at the State Library of South Australia until 21 September.

24 finalists, including Osborne's winning work are on display at the Nyland Prize exhibition in the National Wine Centre of Australia until 31 October.

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