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A couple of years ago, Zavros took a DNA test and unexpectedly discovered that he had Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, alongside his Greek and Irish ancestry, which is a new side to himself he is still learning about.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s worth reminding ourselves how fortunate we are to live in this great Western liberal democracy that welcomed my family from Cyprus in the 1950s, and welcomed Alex who arrived from the Ukraine as a four-year-old refugee in the 1980s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The $100,000 Archibald prize was won by Richard Lewer for his portrait of artist Iluwanti Ken<\/a>. The 105-year-old prize is awarded to the best portrait of a person \u201cdistinguished in art, letters, science or politics\u201d painted by an Australian resident.<\/p>\n Self-taught artist Sean Layh\u2019s portrait of actor Jacob Collins won him the $3,000 packing room prize<\/a>, which is decided by the AGNSW staff who hang the paintings each year.<\/p>\n The Wynne prize for landscape painting and figurative sculpture, and the Sulman prize for genre, subject and mural painting are also awarded alongside the Archibald each year. This year the $50,000 Wynne prize went to Gaypalani Wa\u1e49ambi for her painting The Wa\u1e49ambi tree<\/a>, while the $40,000 Sulman prize went to Lucy Culliton for Toolah<\/a>, a painting of one of her seven greyhounds.<\/p>\n A record 2,524 entries were received across the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes this year.<\/p>\n