Congratulations to Amos Gebhardt, who has won the 2024 National Photographic Portrait Prize for Alexis with moon, a diptych portrait of award-winning First Nations author Alexis Wright. Gebhardt takes home a cash prize of $30,000, as well as $20,000 worth of photography equipment from Canon Australia.
“Alexis Wright is a noted First Nations storyteller whose work collapses linear time and connects to ideas of the cosmos,” says the judging panel of the winning work. “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.”
This year the judging panel consisted of Isobel Parker Philip, director of curatorial and collection at the National Portrait Gallery; José Da Silva, director of UNSW Galleries; and Pippa Milne, curator for PHOTO 2024.
The winning entry was chosen amongst 34 finalists, all of which are now on display in the National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery until 3 October.
National Photographic Portrait Prize
National Portrait Gallery
22 June—3 October
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