The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024 celebrates established and emerging artistic talent from across the country. The works by the thirty-four selected finalists provide a powerful visual record of the year, reflecting a particular time in Australian culture, both socially and artistically.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024 winner is Amos Gebhardt for Alexis with moon, 2024.
Amos Gebhardt, Alexis with moon, 2024
This year’s judges – Isobel Parker Philip, Portrait Gallery Director, Curatorial and Collection; José Da Silva, Director, UNSW Galleries and Curator of the 18th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Inner Sanctum; and Pippa Milne, Curator PHOTO Australia – were taken by the sparse, yet powerful, diptych created through a tight interplay between the moon, the subject and the camera:
“Alexis Wright is a noted First Nations storyteller whose work collapses linear time and connects to ideas of the cosmos, and Gebhardt’s portrait, lit only by the moon, speaks directly to the sitter’s work. Created through a long exposure, the pair of photographs turn Wright and the moon into echoed forms. Instead of a singular snapshot in time, what is represented is an extended moment; the moon traces its passage in the sky and Wright’s eyes flicker, reflecting light back to us. The intentionality of the work’s presentation, opening like the pages of a book, can only truly be appreciated in-situ.”
In 2024, the winner will receive a cash prize of $30,000 and Canon equipment valued at $20,000 courtesy of the Gallery’s Imaging Partner, Canon Australia. The artist who receives the most votes in the People’s Choice Award will be awarded $10,000 cash courtesy of the Calvert-Jones Foundation, and a prize pack from EIZO. This year, Shelley Xue’s 阿谊 (ah Yi), 2024, has been selected as the winner of the Art Handlers’ award, receiving $2,000 cash from exhibition partner IAS Fine Art Logistics.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024 finalist exhibition is currently on view at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, until 13 October 2024.
portrait.gov.au/exhibitions/national-photographic-portrait-prize-2024
