2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize announced
The winner of the 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize has been announced, with a striking portrait by photographer Shea Kirk taking out the $50,000 prize.
The portrait, titled Ruby (left view), is half of a stereoscopic pair from Kirk’s ongoing series Vantages, and depicts queer artist Emma Armstrong-Porter. The image was captured in Kirk's inner-Melbourne studio.
Armstrong-Porter says the portrait reflects their changing attitude to their body and how it fits within society.
“I’ve always struggled with the size of my body, from being extremely underweight to now being overweight. Over the past few years working with other photographers, making portraits, I’ve been processing my feelings about the transformation. I’m starting to feel more at home in my big queer body.”
Judge Tamara Dean said Kirk's 2022 work was a celebration of photography that made portraiture look effortless.
"It's unflinchingly honest, and true and humble. And in all of those things, really beautiful," she said.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Kirk said like other portraits he takes, it was a result of a slow process, with photoshoots often taking up to nine hours.
"It's about spending that time with whoever I'm working with. To talk through everything and make sure what we're capturing is a true representation of self, that they get the opportunity to be their own voice and have that agency over the representation," he said.
"It's also really nice that I'm here with a work of someone who I consider to be a lovely friend, and also someone whose own art practice, I respect a lot."
Kirk takes home $30,000 cash from the National Portrait Gallery and $20,000 worth of Canon equipment.
The Highly Commended prize was awarded to photographer Renae Saxby for her work Bangardidjan 2022, a photo of proud Kine, Rembarrnga, and Dalabon woman, Cindy Rostron, on the road in remote Central Arnhem Land, with a buffalo skull painted by her father, Victor Rostron, strapped to the roof.
Saxby wins an Eizo monitor valued at $4,000.
This year, judges selected 47 finalists from a pool of almost 2400 entries. Earlier this month, the Art Handler's prize was awarded to David Cossini, for his image Ugandan Ssebabi 2022.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize is open now at the National Portrait Gallery until Monday 2 October. Click here for more information.