The winner of this year’s prestigious Archibald Prize Julie Fragar says that growing up in Wee Waa inspired her art early on.
Fragar moved to Wee Waa from the Central Coast with her parents at the age of eight, and left at 17 to study art at the Sydney College of the Arts at the University of Sydney. She is now based in Brisbane, where she is Program Director of Visual Arts and Head of Painting at the Queensland College of Art and Design, Griffith University.
Looking back fondly at those years, she said her time in Wee Waa always has a special place in her heart.
“When I think of the feeling of being free even now, the first thing that comes to mind is riding my horse bareback with my friends along cotton paddock levy banks and irrigation channels.”
Fragar believes her time in Wee Waa inspired her work in a positive way, starting from when she went to school at Wee Waa High School.
“Growing up in Wee Waa probably impacted my work in two main ways,” she said.
“First I had a great teacher, Jacqui Harrison, who gave me a lot of encouragement and boosted my confidence.
Fragar’s parents, Tim and Sue, were also very encouraging.
“My Mum is a brilliant creative who used to paint and has the most phenomenal garden.
“That feeling of confidence, given to me by the people around me, to go out and try to make a career of art was so important.
“The other way Wee Waa impacted my work I think, is that in some ways growing up in the country fosters independent thinking.”
She also loved the wide-open spaces of the area growing up.
“There was always lots of space and time for daydreaming and physically moving across large distances on your own,” she said.
“Which is not to be underestimated in terms of imagination, creativity and even ambition.”
Fragar won the Archibald Prize with a portrait of her close friend and fellow artist Justene Williams, with the painting titled Flagship Mother Multiverse (2025). she had missed out initially when she hadn’t heard anything early in the morning when the Archibald Prize was announced on Friday, May 9.
“I had been told by some people that if I didn’t find out by 7am on the day of the announcement then I hadn’t won and I could go back to sleep,” she said.
“So that time came and went and I was consoling myself that there is always next year.
“Then at 8.20am I got a call from Maud Page [Director of the Art Gallery of NSW] to say I had won and I needed to be at the gallery as soon as possible.”
It’s the fourth time she has been a finalist and she is the 13th woman in the 104-year history of the prize to take out the prize.
“I’m hugely proud of that,” she said.
“And proud that I won it with a portrait of a brilliant woman artist, Justene Williams.”
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