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Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
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National Photographic Portrait Prize 2014 Finalist
The image was a collaboration with the Refugee Art Project and Ahmed Salama, Creative Director of DLSHS, to create portraits of asylum seekers. Our aim was to challenge the viewer's preconceptions around the demeaning myth of illegal 'queue jumpers' threatening Australia's border security. What may look like a typical 'Vanity Fair' spread is actually the portrait of a man who fled his country under threat of persecution from the Taliban. Atef (full name withheld) is a thirty-six-year-old Hazara from Afghanistan.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries that reflect the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.
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