Portrait of Lord Mayor Sally Capp AO 2025

Summary

Sally Capp was the first woman to be directly elected as Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Capp served for six years between 2018–24, meaning she shouldered the heavy burden of leading the city throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2023 Capp received the award of Officer of the Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday honours for "distinguished service to the people of Melbourne, to local government, to business, and to the community through various organisations".

Prior to becoming Lord Mayor, Capp was the CEO for the Committee for Melbourne and the Victorian Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia. Capp held the post of Agent-General for Victoria in the UK, Europe and Israel from 2009–13 and was the first female director of the Collingwood Football Club in 2004.

By renowned Melbourne painter Kristin Headlam, this is the first Lord Mayoral portrait to depict its subject in an outdoor, parkland setting. Headlam has shifted the conventions of portraiture before. In 2000, she won the prestigious Doug Moran Portrait Prize with a painting of herself in bed with two cats and a dog.