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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.

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Leaving Melbourne (Battle wounds), 2020

Tajette O'Halloran

Living Memory Finalist

2020 was a year that shook the ground beneath our feet, generating a swarm of re-evaluations and decisions based on what felt important and necessary as our lives ground to a staggeringly slow and unfamiliar pace, with our freedoms taken away. This is a portrait of my son in a Lakes Entrance caravan park, taken as we headed back towards my home town in northern New South Wales. After seemingly endless months of isolating in the intimate and familiar setting of our home, he exists here in a sterile and transient 'non-place', on the cusp of a new life.

Courtesy of the artist
© The artist

Other NPPP photos from Tajette O'Halloran

The Quarry, 2022 Tajette O'Halloran
2023 Finalist
© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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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 past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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