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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Amy Martin

'Unflinchingly honest' photo takes out National Photographic Portrait Prize

Winner of the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Shea Kirk, with his portrait titled Ruby (left view). Picture by Elesa Kurtz

For judge and artist Tamara Dean the 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize-winning work is one that makes the viewer stop and look.

The National Portrait Gallery announced on Friday that Shae Kirk's nude portrait of friend and fellow artist "Ruby" was the winner of this year's award.

Dean, and fellow judges, National Portrait Gallery senior curator Joanna Gilmour and Centre for Contemporary Photography director Daniel Boetker-Smith, 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.

Portrait of Zachary, by Grace Costa. Picture supplied
Marawa The Amazing, by Jo Duck. Picture supplied
Mela, by Bahram Mia. Picture supplied
Jaye, by Elliot Brown. Picture supplied
In my dreams I am dirty, broke, beautiful & free., by David Cossini. Picture supplied
Self portrait with my mother and sister, by Anne Moffat. Picture supplied
Aunty Helen, by Charlie Ford. Picture supplied
Brave New World, by Heidi Margocsy. Picture supplied
The Bamugura, by Charlie Bliss. Picture supplied
Ugandan Ssebabi, by David Cossini. Picture supplied
Stanley Lockdown Hair (2022), by Jacqueline Mitelman. Picture supplied
KAHA, by Bruce Agnew. Picture supplied
Our First Lesson, by Jimmy Widders Hunt. Picture supplied
Shirley, by Francis Cloake. Picture supplied
Serenity, by Forough Yavari. Picture supplied
Portrait of My Mother As An Ethno-Futurist Icon, by Sammaneh Pourshafighi. Picture supplied
Returning the Gaze, by Shannon May Powell. Picture supplied
Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) employee, Sumy Oblast, Ukraine, May 2022, by Adam Ferguson. Picture supplied
Riverboat Rod & Ruby, by James Bugg. Picture supplied
'Sunju Calabrese' #2, by Renato Colangelo. Picture supplied
A brief reprieve from isolation, by Lily Hatten. Picture supplied
Boyca dharraka mayung ngurr gartji. Lardum ratjuk gurr (Boyca at Mayung Creek, Gartji. Hunting for barramundi), by Cassandra Scott-Finn. Picture supplied
Strong Avenue, Graceville, Brisbane, by Stuart Miller. Picture supplied
Nikki – Yurrkan Mantangka Ngargnyi – coll 1 (Nikki – young woman on Country), by Martine Perret. Picture supplied
The Quarry, by Tajette O'Halloran. Picture supplied
The Priestess, by Cindy Kavanagh. Picture supplied
blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher I (Gurindji/Malngnin/Mudburra; Mara/Nandi/Njarrindjerri/Ritharrngu; Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scot), by Brenda L Croft, Prue Hazelgrove. Picture supplied
Yarnangu, by David Darcy. Picture supplied
Looking Down, by Sarah Depta. Picture supplied
Mirror II, by Gerwyn Davies. Picture supplied
Madison, by Isabella Moore. Picture supplied
Mum helping with canvas, by Sarah Enticknap. Picture supplied
Anne, by Nathan Dyer. Picture supplied
Matjangka Norris, by Rohan Thomson. Picture supplied
Téa-Anna Parvathy Murrin – Australian cultural identity, by Franca Turrin. Picture supplied
Dave, by Jay Hynes. Picture supplied
Davide, by Sean Slattery. Picture supplied
Lola - Last Summer Days, by Julian Kingma. Picture supplied
Gusta, by Jacob Nash. Picture supplied
Margaux, by Meng-Yu Yan. Picture supplied
Abraham Admasu (School of St Yared student, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), by Dylan Le’Mon. Picture supplied
Marissa, by Ben McNamara. Picture supplied

"He captured his sitter in a way that feels true. He is technically beautiful and perfect, you can see every detail. But while looking around the photograph, you just always come back to Ruby's face. And I think that there's a real strength in having captivated their character."

Taken in the artist's inner-Melbourne studio, the portrait, titled Ruby (left view), reflects the sitter's changing attitude to their body, and how it fits within society.

The work is one of two portraits in their year's portrait prize featuring the same sitter. Ruby, real name Emma Armstrong-Porter, also features in a self-portrait titled Sisters or Friends.

Sisters or Friends, by Emma Armstrong-Porter, is a self-portrait that features the same sitter as this year's portrait prize winning work. Picture supplied

On his winning work, Kirk said like other portraits he takes, it was a result of a slow process, with photoshoots often taking between three and 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 wins $30,000 cash from the National Portrait Gallery and $20,000 worth of equipment from Canon Australia.

Also announced on Friday was the Highly Commended Prize, which went to Renae Saxby for her 2022 work, Bangardidjan. A photo of Kine, Rembarrnga, and Dalabon woman Cindy Rostron on the road in remote Central Arnhem Land, she is featured in the family car with a buffalo skull painted by her father Victor Rostron strapped to the roof.

Bangardidjan, by Renae Saxby, winner of this year's Highly Commended award. Picture supplied

Judges said the work had "exceptional cinematic quality, encapsulating an entire story, and while there is so much to see from a narrative point of view, it is the sitter's gaze which draws you in".

Saxvy's wins a ColorEdge monitor valued at almost $4000 from EIZO.

The National Photographic Prize is on show at the National Portrait Gallery until October 2.

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