EMBARGOED until 11am Friday 28 August 2015
The winners of the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Awards will be announced tomorrow morning at 10.00am at the National Portrait Gallery.
This year, the Portrait Gallery has awarded two prizes for the most outstanding digital portraits. The professional development cash prize, for entrants aged 18 and over, has been awarded to Ilya Milstein from Victoria for his work The Wandering Jew. The winner of the professional development residency, for entrants aged 18 to 30, is Isabelle de Kleine, also from Victoria, for her work Untitled.
The winners will be announced by the Director of the Macquarie Group Collection, Helen Burton.
Ilya will receive $10,000 from the Gallery, made possible through the generous support of the Macquarie Group Foundation. Isabelle will undertake a multifaceted professional development program at The Edge at the State Library of Queensland, one of Australia's leading centres for the development of contemporary art across digital technologies, valued at $15,000.
Of the two winners, National Portrait Gallery Senior Curator Dr Christopher Chapman said 'Ilya Milstein's portrayal is dreamlike in its complexity, taut and suspenseful. Isabelle de Kleine has created a cool and enigmatic portrait with sci-fi overtones. Both winning portraits convey strong psychological intensity.'
The other finalists are Joel Burrows (nsw); Tina Havelock Stevens (nsw); Devika Bilimoria (vic); and Jacobus Capone (wa). These digital works, in addition to that of the winners, forms the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award exhibition.
Judges for the 2015 awards were National Portrait Gallery Senior Curator Dr Christopher Chapman; Curator of Photography at the National Gallery of Australia Anne O'Hehir; Contemporary artist Nell; and the Portrait Gallery's Director of Access and Learning, Karen Vickery.
In 2015, the Portrait Gallery expanded the Award, opening entries to those over the age of 30 years. This saw a 50% increase in the number of eligible entries received, with 96 of 160 of those who registered to enter aged over thirty.
The Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015 will be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery from 28 August 2015 to 25 April 2016. Find out more.
