When an Australian woman privately asked for the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra to remove a painted portrait of her in May 2024, it was reportedly because she didn't want anyone to see it.

Since then, the painting of Gina Rinehart by Indigenous artist Vincent Namatjira has been widely circulated on the internet, made it onto late night television shows in the U.S., and almost ended up on a billboard in Times Square in New York City.

Rinehart, 70, who inherited her father's iron ore mining company in 1992, is Australia's richest citizen and the 56th richest person in the world, according to Forbes.

She is reportedly worth more than US$30 billion (S$41.7 billion).

"Unflattering"

The portrait of the mining magnate is included in Namatjira's work, "Australia in Colour", a 2021 piece which features the portraits of 21 powerful people in Australia.

Each of the portraits are in Namatjira's signature caricature-esque style, which exaggerates the features of his subjects.

Namatjira is described by NGA as a portraitist whose artwork offers "a wry look at the politics of history, power and leadership from a contemporary Aboriginal perspective".

He won the Archibald Prize — the most prestigious portraiture prize in Australia — in 2020 for his painting of an Indigenous footballer, Adam Goodes.

Namatjira was the first Indigenous person to take home first prize.

When the artwork featuring Rinehart went on display on Mar. 2, she reportedly "demanded" it be removed.

Swimming Queensland, which has received more than AU$40 million (S$36 million) in donations from Rinehart since 2017, also requested the portrait be removed.

CEO Kevin Hasemann told ABC that he wrote a letter to NGA after a group of Olympic swimmers, who view Rinehart as a "saviour" for her contributions to the sport, raised their concerns about the public perception of the billionaire based on the portrait.

He said: "What we said was that we thought that it was unflattering and offensive and would they mind taking it down. That's all we said."

In response, NGA released a statement implying the artwork would not be removed but that it appreciated the "dynamic discussion" around the satirical piece.

Namatjira also responded to the publicity, saying:

"I paint the world as I see it."

"People don’t have to like my paintings, but I hope they take the time to look and think, ‘why has this Aboriginal bloke painted these powerful people? What is he trying to say?’ I paint people who are wealthy, powerful, or significant."

Rinehart has not spoken publicly about the portrait or the attention it has garnered.

"The Streisand Effect"

In 2003, actress and musician Barbara Streisand attempted to sue photographer Kenneth Adelman for including an image of her Malibu home in his 12,000 frame project, "California Coastline", documenting coastal erosion in the state.

Her legal counsel claimed it was an invasion of privacy and breached anti-paparazzi laws, and were seeking US$10 million (S$17.2 million).

The judge ruled in favour of Adelman, who claimed the images were in the public interest, and Streisand was required to pay US$177,107.54 (S$305,422) in legal fees instead.

When the now-82-year-old artiste launched her case against Adelman then, the image of her home had been downloaded six times, two of which were by her attorney.

After news of the court case broke, the website had more than 420,000 visits in a month.

In 2005, founding editor of web blog techdirt.com wrote about it and coined the term "Streisand Effect":

"How long is it going to take before lawyers realise that the simple act of trying to repress something they don’t like online is likely to make it so that something that most people would never, ever see... is now seen by many more people? Let’s call it the Streisand Effect," he wrote.

Similarly, more people have seen the portrait of Gina Rinehart than ever before, too.

Global headlines

Since calling for its removal, the portrait has been featured in Time Magazine, BBC, CNN, South China Morning Post, and New York Post, among others.

NGA director Nick Mitzevich said in late-May the gallery had seen a 24 per cent increase in visitors since the saga first hit headlines.

At the time, the director also added: "We’re expecting the visitor numbers to continue to be dynamic."

U.S. television shows "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" also discussed the portrait.

@dandaniels645 🇦🇺 Gina Rinehart's Portrait 🤪 #ginarinehart #stephencolbert #portrait #meanwhile #dandaniels ♬ original sound - ꧁𝐃𝐚𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐬꧂

Most notably, though, Australian comedian and presenter Dan Ilic started a fundraising page with hopes of displaying Namatjira's depiction of Rinehart on a billboard in New York City's Time Square.

Ilic raised more than AU$32,000 (S$28,900), exceeding his target of AU$30,000 (S$27,100).

He was planning to broadcast the stunt on his social media channels.

In the campaign, he invited people to donate, in pursuit of spreading the word of Vincent Namatjira’s latest exhibition.

The comedian wrote:

“But because it’s in Canberra, not many people know about it. Or know where Canberra is.

“To be honest, many people around the world don’t even know what Canberra is.

“So this is an invitation to help get as many people to know about 'Australia In Colour' as possible by putting the highlight of the show on a huge billboard in Times Square the week of the 27th May.”

However, Ilic's plans were foiled when Namatjira released a statement to The Guardian:

“I didn’t give my approval for Dan Ilic’s campaign to use my artwork and I’d rather it does not go ahead.”

The billboard was cancelled and donors were refunded.

Instead, he encouraged them to consider donating to Seed Mob, an Indigenous youth climate network.

Although the billboard didn't come to fruition, neither did the Rinehart's quest to have the artwork removed.

It will remain on display in Canberra until Jul. 21.

Top images from Hancock Prospecting and Vincent Namatjira/National Gallery of Australia.