Selina Ou (b. 1977), a Melbourne-based photographer, established her reputation through photographs of figures in urban environments that teem with detail, such as streets, convenience stores, workshops, hardware outlets and pharmacies. She describes her practice as a global record of contemporary life, consumerism and identity. Born in Malaysia, Ou moved to Australia at the age of two. She completed her honours degree majoring in photography at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2001. In 2003, she was awarded the City of Hobart Art Prize; two years later she won the ANZ Emerging Artist Award. Her series New York was shown at Sophie Gannon Gallery and Gertrude Contemporary in Melbourne in 2011; she was represented in the exhibition Melbourne Now at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2013. Ou has held a number of artist residencies in Australia, China, Japan, Chile and the USA, funded by grants from the Australia Council, Arts Victoria and municipalities in China and Japan. In 2018, the National Portrait Gallery commissioned Ou to photograph Professor Michelle Simmons AO, a pioneer in atomic electronics and quantum computing.
