Dean Beletich (b. 1968), artist and photographer, studied at Newcastle Art School, the National Art School Sydney and the University of Newcastle from 1987 to 1991. Majoring in photography and printmaking, since graduating he has continued to make works on paper, holding regular solo exhibitions, including at the John Miller Galleries, Newcastle, at Grafton Regional Gallery and Lake Macquarie City Gallery, and participating in many in group exhibitions. As a photographer he has been a finalist in the Olive Cotton Prize (four times), the National Photographic Portrait Prize of 2014 and the Muswellbrook Photographic Prize, in which, in 2003, he took out both first and second prize. In the field of drawing, he has been a finalist in the Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize and won the Reg Russom Life Drawing Prize in 1994. Of his portraits, Beletich says, 'As a photographic artist, the main thread of my interest has always been portraiture. The challenge to convey a person, simply and honestly, is a pursuit that keeps me returning to this tradition.'
