![\"Courtney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/26b2e5ffc6011c0f7598e32ba2de724b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nDiscarded fingernails, sequins, a pair of high heels, a beer can, and a dismembered Barbie doll have been used to capture the likeness of Australia’s most celebrated drag queen.<\/p>\n
A glittering new portrait of Courtney Act has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.<\/p>\n
The large mosaic by artist Paul Yore is an eclectic assemblage of thousands of objects, each meticulously placed with tweezers, to pay tribute to the queer icon.<\/p>\n
“I sent Paul a bag of my old fingernails and eyelashes and broken jewellery, and so I knew that it was going to be made of found objects and mixed media, but to see it hanging on the wall is absolutely amazing,” Act said.<\/p>\n
Courtney Act’s portrait features found items, including a football.\u00a0 (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
Courtney Act has spent more than two decades in the public eye and is an internationally celebrated drag performer, queer advocate and television personality.<\/p>\n
She is the alter ego of Queensland-born Shane Janek, who never felt like he fit into masculine norms growing up.<\/p>\n
“Imagine beaming back to 14-year-old me, listening to the Spice Girls, wearing my platform buffalo boots to school,” Act said.<\/p>\n
“In Brisbane in the 90s there was certainly nobody like me around and not anybody like me portrayed in the media.<\/p>\n
“So when an institution like the National Portrait Gallery commissions a portrait of you, it feels very validating.”<\/p>\n
![\"Courtney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/b4e70b448d871cd3334bac5e0d73f6c5.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Australian queen of drag, Courtney Act and artist Paul Yore. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
‘Get that off my face’<\/p>\n
Among the objects used in the portrait is an old Nokia phone \u2014 the same model used by a young Shane Janek to come out to his parents.<\/p>\n
There is also a statue of Aphrodite, an array of Australian iconography, and a football \u2014 something Act admits she has never played.<\/p>\n
Artist Paul Yore said he was initially intimidated when he was approached by the gallery to create the portrait.<\/p>\n
“I’ve obviously followed Courtney’s career for decades now and idolise her as an icon as so many of us in the queer community do,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/8c8a92e1fddb07c7436acef2d7c0fe26.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Yore’s mosaic portrait of Act has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
The process took him about a year, and Yore said he felt a great sense of responsibility to “get it right”.<\/p>\n
“It was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever had to make,” he said.<\/p>\n
“At different times, I did hear Courtney’s voice in my head being like, ‘Oi, what are you doing? Why are you putting that there? Get that off my face!'”<\/p>\n
‘Monument to queer culture’<\/p>\n
Growing up queer in a Catholic household, Yore said he took inspiration from illuminated icons \u2014 including the Virgin Mary \u2014 to make the portrait.<\/p>\n
National Portrait Gallery director Bree Pickering described the artwork as a “monument to queer culture”.<\/p>\n
“At a distance, this is a glossy likeness of Courtney, yet up close thousands of small details tell another story, about a big life lived without apology,” she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Act's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/421f7e56005e38b4693e61066dddbbb3.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Act’s portrait mosaic features glitter and a beer can.\u00a0 (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
The portrait is now the first artwork you see when you walk into the gallery.<\/p>\n
“Well, they say that you should always open with a strong number,” Act said.<\/p>\n
“I think that when people turn in, and they see this, they’re just going to have a smile on their face.<\/p>\n
“There’s a sense of joy about it.<\/p>\n
“I’m very grateful that this portrait has been created of me and that it celebrates drag and queerness in all of its sparkle.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Discarded fingernails, sequins, a pair of high heels, a beer can, and a dismembered Barbie doll have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[13976,307,304,305,306,29098,280721,308,30816,264713,93,61,60,29099,2974],"class_list":["post-662863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-act","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-canberra","tag-courtney-act","tag-design","tag-drag-queen","tag-drag-race","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-local-stories","tag-national-portrait-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}