Abdul Abdullah has won the Packing Room Prize at this year’s Archibald Prize for No mountain high enough, his portrait of Jason Phu. Born in Perth, Abdullah is a multidisciplinary artist who divides his time between Melbourne and Bangkok. He is a seven-time finalist in the Archibald Prize, and one of 57 finalists — from 904 entries — for this …

The cost-of-living crisis, energy and housing have dominated the 2025 election campaign. Much less airtime has been given to the arts, a $64 billion industry facing serious threats. Diminishing profits due to rising production costs, unregulated use of AI and a lack of Australian content on streaming platforms are among the most pressing issues for the arts sector today. Artists …

Social media influencers are redefining how public spaces are conceptualised, built and experienced. The Dubai Frame and Bali swings exemplify this evolving influencer-architecture relationship. Social media has become woven into many people’s everyday lives, so much so that it is understood to be influencing the way our public spaces are designed and experienced. Twenty years ago, having a MySpace page …

Dhungutti artist Blak Douglas (aka Adam Hill) has won the $100,000 Archibald Prize for his portrait of Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens — the second Indigenous artist to win the prize in its 101 years, following Western Arrernte artist Vincent Namatjira in 2020. This is Douglas’s fifth time as an Archibald finalist, and accepting the prize at the Art Gallery of NSW …

Los Angeles police were ready to arrest Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage, an Oscars producer said. Will Packer said the Los Angeles Police department was ready to “go get him” in an interview to “Good Morning America.” “They were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment,” …

Action star Bruce Willis is stepping away from his acting career at age 67 after being diagnosed with aphasia, his family have said in a statement. “Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” Willis’s family wrote in an Instagram post early on Wednesday morning local time. “As …

A landmark study of television news and current affairs has found that presenters, commentators and reporters on Australian television are overwhelmingly of an Anglo-Celtic background. In terms of the number of appearances during the survey period, almost 76 per cent of those on Australian screens were found to have an Anglo-Celtic background. Just 6 per cent were from an Indigenous …

Joleen Diaz often posts photos together with her 19-year-old daughter Meilani Parks on her Instagram account. Netizens admire her youthful appearance and have asked her to share the secrets of her attractiveness. Many commentators have recognised her as the sexiest mother on the planet. 43-year-old California resident Joleen Diaz has revealed the secrets behind her unfading beauty. “I’ve always lived …

US President Donald Trump has ridiculed the historic best picture Oscar win for South Korean film Parasite, telling a campaign rally he wishes for the return of Hollywood classics like 1939’s Gone with the Wind. Parasite is a dark social satire about the gap between rich and poor in modern Seoul. Earlier this month it became the first non-English-language film to …

A company has been handed a $2.3 million fine by the Federal Court for selling thousands of pieces of fake Aboriginal art. The court found Birubi Art breached Australian consumer law and misled customers by promoting its products as genuine Aboriginal art, when in fact they were painted in Indonesia. The company sold more than 18,000 boomerangs, bullroarers, digeridoos and …