Glenda Jones Nova Peris-Kneebone

This portrait by Glenda Jones of athlete Nova Peris-Kneebone was a finalist in the Daily Telegraph Sporting Portrait Prize, held in conjunction with the Archibald Prize 2000.

Born in Kyneton, Victoria, in 1944, Jones had a portrait of cartoonist and writer Kaz Cooke hung in the 1990 Archibald Prize. At that time she realised the disproportionate number of white males who had been painted in the prize’s history and she decided to paint Aboriginal women only for the Archibald from that time.

Peris-Kneebone became the first Aboriginal woman to win an Olympic gold medal, at the Atlanta Games in 1996, as part of the Australian women’s hockey team (the Hockeyroos).