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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Portrait23: Identity
Previous exhibition
from Friday 10 March until Sunday 18 June 2023

Portraiture. Not as you know it.

We invite you to stretch, push, resist and transcend portraiture’s conventional constraints.

Portrait23: Identity is a major exhibition of new work from multi-award-winning contemporary Australian artists and collectives working across every state and territory. Street art, textiles, performance, photography, ceramics, painting, drawing, soft sculpture and bronze challenge the boundaries of portraiture. Many of the works move eloquently between installation, video, and animation, inviting you, the viewer, inside the portrait.

Tarryn Gill and Yarrenyty Arltere Artists
Some women you may not know, 2022-2023 Alison Alder
Fantastic Faces Space, 2023 Kate Beynon
Deborah Kelly
1 Tarryn Gill and Yarrenyty Arltere Artists. 2 Some women you may not know, 2022-2023 Alison Alder. Made on the land of the Yuin people, Braidwood Courtesy of the artist. © Alison Alder. 3 Fantastic Faces Space, 2023 Kate Beynon. Made on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, Naarm/Melbourne Courtesy of the artist. © Kate Beynon. 4 Deborah Kelly.

Twenty-three artists and collectives present dramatic, ambitious and thrilling work about who they are and what it means to represent themselves, their communities, histories and contemporary society. They break open the genre with deeply personal evocations of themes that resonate collectively, such as cultural knowledge, feminism, visibility/invisibility, activism and journeys of migration.

Assume nothing. Question everything. Expect no answers.

Only in Canberra.

Portrait 23: Identity
Portrait 23: Identity
Portrait 23: Identity
Portrait 23: Identity

Artists and Collectives

Arts Project Australia, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, ‘stArts with D’ Performance Ensemble, Abdul Abdullah, Alison Alder, Amrita Hepi, Atong Atem, Christopher Bassi, Kate Beynon, Mia Boe, Baby Guerrilla, Tarryn Gill, Julie Gough, Naomi Hobson, Deborah Kelly, Fiona McMonagle, Angelica Mesiti, Dylan Mooney, Nell, Sally Smart, Vipoo Srivilasa, Latai Taumoepeau and Kaylene Whiskey.
Exhibition Patron
Strategic Partner

The Icons Syndicate

Karen McLeod Adair & Anthony Adair AM
Philip Bacon AO
Hayley & James Baillie
John Barrington AM & Fiona Harris AM
Tim & Vanessa Bednall
Andrew Butler & Susie Westwood
John Calvert-Jones AM & Janet Calvert-Jones AO
Paula & Damien Cronin
Marilyn Darling AC
Elizabeth Dibbs
Tim Fairfax AC
Penny Fowler & Grant Fowler
Michael & Helen Gannon
JPW | Johnson Pilton Walker
Michael Kirby AC CMG
Liangis family
Naomi Milgrom Foundation
Murrays Coaches
Sid & Fiona Myer Family Foundation
Jon & Susanne North
Dr Helen Nugent AC
Elizabeth Pakchung
Bruce Parncutt AO
Marc & Sheena Polese
Lady Primrose Potter AC
Nigel Satterley AM & Denise Satterley
Dick Smith AC & Pip Smith AO
David Tudehope
Peter & Susan Yates Foundation
Sam & Tania Brougham
Nicholas & Helen Moore
Alasdair & Prue MacLeod

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King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency