When Melbourne artist Catherine Paton asked Australian soprano Helena Dix whether she would sit for a portrait to be entered into the Archibald Prize, Dix admits she was initially unsure.

For someone who has never felt entirely comfortable being photographed for headshots and promotional images, sitting for a portrait was next level.

Helena Dix

Helena Dix. Photo supplied

“I didn’t know much about the Archibald Prize except that it was a really prestigious portrait prize, and I felt very honoured, actually, and surprised that someone would take interest in me for a portrait,” says Dix, chatting to Limelight from London, where she is based.

“Obviously, it’s really difficult when someone asks you something like that, because you think, ‘Well, I don’t know this person, I don’t know what they do’… and I couldn’t go and see her at the time as I was in London.”

“[Being painted] is an incredibly personal and intimate process. And, even though I have a public disposition as far as my performances go, that side of things is always a character that I’m portraying for the public,” adds Dix.

“So, I was uncertain when she first asked me, because one...