Photographer Kate Gollings embarked in the late 1990s on a project to take a 'national snapshot', photographing 100 people who had made a distinctive contribution to Australian society and culture. These photographs were published in the volume australians (1999) and seven of them were acquired by the NPG by gift of Marilyn Darling in 2001. Gollings undertook a great deal of photography for major corporations and regularly made editorial portraits for Financial Review Magazine, BRW, Monument, Architecture in Australia and HQ. In addition, she worked with artist Susan Cohn, exhibiting in Amsterdam, Glasgow, Tokyo, the NGA, NGV, and galleries in Queensland, NSW, and Tasmania. According to Gael Newton Gollings 'rarely merely confirm[ed] appearances or follow[ed] the simple posturing repertoire of her subjects in their wish to confirm a desired public image'; rather, Gollings said, she let people 'simply express themselves in their own ways.'
