Photographer Sean Davey won the 2016 Highly Commended prize for his portrait, ‘Asha on North Brother’.
Entries are now open for the 10th annual National Photographic Portrait Prize, which offers a $25,000 cash prize to the overall winner as well as prizes for Highly Commended, People’s Choice and Art Handlers’ awards and a place in the National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition.
To be considered a portrait the work must be a recognisable image of an individual person or a group of people.
But the kind of photograph that will win is anyone’s guess, including 2017 judge Dr Sarah Engledow, who is also the curator of the Prize’s Exhibition and a historian with the National Portrait Gallery.
‘Anyone can look at the previous winners of the Prize on our website and anyone would agree that there is absolutely nothing that links them all except that it’s a strong image,’ she told ArtsHub.
‘It’s not necessarily going to be a beautiful face that is going to be picked – it’s not a model shoot. It’s intended to evoke reality.’
Engledow said each year there were certain recurring themes: People suffering injury, illness or incapacity, photos of older, gnarled faces and photos that try to push the boundaries.
‘Every year there are people who set out to shock us with their contributions,’ she said. ‘It’s probably fair to say we still have the capacity to be revolted, we probably don’t have the capacity to be shocked anymore.
‘We always have some people who put in a portrait that nobody has ever thought that might be a portrait before – somebody from behind or somebody with their head in a bag or somebody looking into a very misty mirror so essentially where you can’t see the face.’
Last year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize winner was Elizabeth Looker for her portrait ‘Life Dancers’.
But while any kind of portrait may win, one that’s over-manipulated probably won’t.
‘You can do as much Photoshopping as you like, but whether we’ll like it or not I can’t say,’ she told ArtsHub. ‘We would take the attitude that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear – if it’s not a really strong photograph in the first place it’s not going to get through just because you’ve jazzed it up with saturation.’
Last year the Prize attracted more than 2000 photographs with entry open to professional and amateur photographers. While the majority of previous winners are professionals, the judges are often surprised by the quality of those less experienced.
‘It could be the first photograph you’ve ever taken and you could look at it and think, well that’s fantastic and I’m going to enter it,’ Engledow told ArtsHub.
“One year had a professional snapper as a winner and runner-up who took photographs in Melbourne by night because he was a tram driver during the day. That’s a human story in itself – it would have been a fairy tale if he’d actually won.’
Engledow is one of three judges, and is joined by NPG curator Joanna Gilmore and professional photographer George Fetting. They will sift through the 2000-plus entrants as digital images and, once they have 45-50 finalists, will request a printed and framed version be sent to the gallery for display and final judging.
The National Portrait Gallery’s inaugural Art Handler’s Award in 2016 went to Matthew Newton for his work, ‘On Albatross Island’.
Entries are open for Australian citizens who are over 18 until November 21 and finalists will be revealed in December. The winner will be selected and announced prior to the National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition opening on 1 April, 2017.
All finalists’ work will be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery until 18 June 2017 before touring Australia throughout five or six venues in regional Australia. Engledow says the main cash prize is a huge thrill for the overall winner, and the exhibition is wonderful showcase for the finalists.
“It’s tremendously exciting having your work hung and being part of what is inevitably interpreted as a snapshot of Australia,” she said. ‘It’s also having a huge number of people see your photograph on display and have the opportunity to be voted the people’s choice.”
She said being an artist can be a lonely endeavour so having the chance to mingle with fellow professionals, or for those just starting out to rub shoulders with those who are more experienced, is another key benefit.
Enter the 2017 National Photographic Portrait Prize here, https://www.portrait.gov.au/nppp-callforentries.php
