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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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Jayden Bush on the salt pans I played on as a kid (Northern Adelaide, 2019), 2020

Matthew Thorne

Living Memory Finalist

type C photograph on paper (frame: 126.5cm x 118.0cm depth 4.5cm)

This photo of Jayden was taken during a project I was working on in the northern suburbs of Adelaide where my father grew up, and where the shadows of the shuttered industrial car-manufacturing plants of Ford and Holden (alongside the now near-derelict port) loom large. It is a work about frail masculinity, petrolheads, and left-behind suburbs. It was inspired by my father's childhood – and my own – and made with the real people from those communities (and my life). This photo was taken out on the salt flats where I used to take photos.

Courtesy of the artist
© The artist

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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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