Angus McDonald's colourful tribute to leading Aboriginal writer and academic Marcia Langton has secured the artist a second Archibald People's Choice award.
The professor and rights activist is portrayed in the portrait looking upwards with rose-tinted clouds in the sky behind her.
Social justice advocate McDonald wanted to paint Prof Langton in honour of her "lifetime struggling for recognition and justice for First Nations people".
"I wanted to paint her to get to know her a little better, but also to express my gratitude for the work she's been doing for the last 50 years," he told AAP following the prize announcement on Thursday.
A romantic air surrounds Prof Langton in the portrait, which McDonald intended to highlight the balance between her warmth as an individual and her strong resolve as an activist.
"Even though she's been forced to be hardened for so many years ... she's such a beautiful person and I wanted to combine those elements of her character as far as I knew them," he said.
By placing Prof Langton just right of the centre of the canvas, McDonald tried to convey a sense of her stepping away and handing the baton over to a younger of Indigenous generation of activists.
"I don't know if that's true - it's just my interpretation ... she may well be not thinking about that at all," he said.
The seven-time Archibald finalist won the People's Choice award in 2020 for his portrait of Kurdish-Iranian writer and former Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani.
Mcdonald, 30 years into his career, intends to keep sharing stories of people that contribute to improving society.
"(The Archibald) is a great platform to talk about people I think are important in Australian life ... people that have fought good fights - that we should feel gratitude for," he said.
The artist becoming the art is the subject of another portrait among the current finalists, in a work by his close friend Mostafa Azimitabar.
While the premier Archibald prize and its sister award the Sulman are judged by trustees at the Art Gallery of NSW, the People's Choice award is chosen by patrons who visit the exhibition in its opening two months.
The 2024 public prize was the result of votes cast by 21,663 visitors.
The main portrait award went to artist Laura Jones, who took the $100,000 purse with her portrait of acclaimed author Tim Winton.
Yolŋu elder Djakaŋu Yunupiŋu won the $50,000 Wynne Prize for her painting Nyalala gurmilili.
The $40,000 Sulman Prize, which goes to the best subject or genre painting, went to Naomi Kantjuriny for her work Minyma mamu tjuta.
The Archibald finalists’ paintings will be exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW until September before touring various regional galleries.
