Victorian portrait artist Jaq Grantford has won the 2026 Portia Geach People’s Choice Award for her portrait of Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin.

Grantford’s painting, Spellcast for an Unwritten Symphony – Elena Kats-Chernin, received the $1,000 award, presented at the Portia Geach exhibition at Sydney’s S.H. Ervin Gallery. The prize is given in memory of Harry and Winifred Macorison by Dr Heather Macorison and Hilary Macorison.

Jaq Grantford’s Spellcast for an unwritten symphony – Elena Kats-Chernin

An award-winning portraitist, Grantford won the National Portrait Gallery’s Darling Portrait Prize in 2022 and the Archibald Prize People’s Choice Award in 2023. Her work is held in public and private collections, including the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Grantford said her portrait of Kats-Chernin, a composer and close friend, sought to capture the creative process behind a musical work.

“With a degree in music myself, I have always been fascinated by the mind of a composer,” she said. “I have never explored composition myself, so I am fascinated by Elena’s ability to create something magical that can move people and transform their whole mood.”

Grantford has painted Kats-Chernin several times, with each portrait offering a different perspective on the composer’s personality and imagination.

The latest work focuses on the moment when musical ideas are taking shape, before they become a finished composition. Its swirling pages represent the energy, intuition and imagination surrounding Kats-Chernin as she works.

“The painting seeks to capture this moment of creation, when ideas are forming, and anything feels possible,” Grantford said. “It is the spellcasting before the symphony is written.”

The 2026 Portia Geach exhibition features 55 finalist works and continues at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill, Sydney, until 1 November.