Introducing the National Portrait Prizes 2022

- Lovely to not quite see everyone today, but we're back in trying to do these really fantastic, fun programmes for our COVID audiences, so welcome. And I'd also like to say big hello to our fantastic Auslan interpreters that we've got with us today as well. We're going to be mindful of, I guess, pacing ourselves a little bit, and also giving all of you out there watching today, the opportunity to take some time to really, truly look at the artworks that we'll be exploring. But in the first instance, I thought I'd kick off and talk a little bit about the Darling Portrait Prize. This is only the second time that we've run it here at the National Portrait Gallery. It is a painting prize, so it is very much in that strong tradition that we know all Australians love of exploring how Australia's painters choose to represent people that have inspired them or people that they find interest in. And we had our very first one in 2020. With everything that has happened since then, it's been really lovely that in 2022, we've had the opportunity to bring the Darling Portrait Prize back to Canberra. Ultimately, I think there were around nearly 600 entries this year. So our three judges who were Karen Quinlan, our Director here at the National Portrait Gallery, Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, the Director of the National Portrait Gallery of London, and Clothilde Bullen, the Senior Curator and Head of Indigenous at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, were the judges for this year's Darling. And ultimately, they picked 39 paintings to bring in for this showing. And you can see a bit of a view of it there behind Rebecca and I. It's a stunning show and we're gonna have a bit of fun talking about a handful of those works today. Rebecca, why don't you give us a bit of a overview of the National Photographic Portrait Prize?

- Yeah, for sure. So yeah, the National Photographic Portrait Prize, it's a bit of a tradition here at the National Portrait Gallery. So the 2022 one has been going on for 15 years, so this the 15th anniversary of it. It's a national open call for, yeah, for photography portraiture and it's open entry. This year, we had an amazing 2,400 entries and we had to have the difficult task of narrowing that down to 55 finalists, and then of course picking the winner. There were three judges this year. So myself, along with Sandra, and then we also had Nick Moore who is the Chief Photographer of the "Sydney Morning Harold". Yeah, the calibre of works that came through were just incredible and I think that's why it was such a hard decision to really just narrow it down to those 55 finalists. But it was a real privilege to be able to judge the prize, I think. Definitely having the privilege of looking into, I guess, the private lives of people. Yeah, it was really wonderful.

- Yeah, there's that fantastic photo that I think the team have just put up of us on that very last day of judging.

- Yeah.

- It was interesting, wasn't it? Because we had to go through this process individually of looking at each of the 2,400 odd works digitally and we all made our own individual shortlists. And then we were all put into a room. The door was closed and we weren't allowed out again until we--

- Until we had a winner.

- And well, until we had a winner, but also until we had the exhibition.

- Yeah, of course.

- Yeah. So it was a lot of fun but I think it's a really intensive process because it's such a strong field and it can be really difficult.

- And it's so open as well, all the different themes that we get and that come through and trying to figure out what stories we're telling, I suppose. Yeah.

- Yeah, that's right. What was I going to say? Oh yes, that's right. So we thought that today we would, we can't talk about all of the works in both exhibitions. We don't have enough time. We could both talk the ears off the camel but... So what we thought we'd do is do a bit of a compare and contrast. So for the rest of the hour, we're going to bring up a work from the NPPP and a work from the Darling and Rebecca and I'll get to have a bit of a talk about where there are synergies and connections and parallels between the works in the two exhibitions. So why don't we go to the first set now. So in every instance, you'll see the NPPP finalist on the left and the Darling finalist on the right. And so here we have, "Jamie Bianca in the Style of Grace Kelly", by Tom Evangelidis. And we have, "Une Femme Amoureuse Self-Portrait as Mireille Mathieu", by Yvette Coppersmith. Bec, why don't you get us started with the "Jamie Bianca"?

- Yeah, I think a lot of people have seen this as it's all over our building as well, this beautiful work. Yeah, "Jamie Bianca in the Style of Grace Kelly". It's a really elegant portrait, definitely harking back in that classical sort of portraiture, as well, black and white and very, just very beautiful and elegant. But there is within this work, I think it's really highlighting self-representation and the way that you would want to be perceived. And then I guess it has that classical part to it where we're looking, I guess, into that 1950s style of Hollywood of, again, elegance, of beauty, of feminine softness that is admired by both genders. And I think it's, yeah, because, I guess, Jamie Bianca and when this photo was taken was through a transitional period in their life. And then, yeah, I guess that real self-representation and pride in how you feel and the strength and acceptance of self, I think, really comes through in this portrait, which I think was what makes it so strong.

- Yeah.

- Oh, sorry. What do you think, Sandra?

- Sorry, we're just reminding ourselves that we should just take a moment just to stop and look and not feel the need to fill all of the spaces with sound. So we're just gonna have a moment. But yeah, so I think you're right Rebecca. It's really interesting, isn't it, because Bianca, as you say, was going through transition when Tom took this photo of her. And for me it does give that agency of self-representation and self-identity, but it's wrapped up in this glamour of a past era, which speaks to, I don't know, self-possession and strength. And all of these wonderful sorts of positive ways to present yourself to the public.

- Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's just a classical, really strong, beautiful portrait that just, it hit all the boxes, I think, when we were judging it. And I think all of us, as soon as we saw that work too when we were judging, it instantly made it and we didn't have to question it, really, because of all the strength of the work.

- Yeah, that's very true. Let's have a look now at Yvette Coppersmith's self-portrait from the Darling. So, my French, I probably massacred it. I do apologise to anyone who can speak the language. But "Une Femme Amoureuse" by Yvette Coppersmith, it's really interesting because Coppersmith's practise is very much about her representing herself in the style of past eras and past aesthetics. And often she will, I guess, in a way appropriate another person's identity as a way of presenting herself to her audience. And so, Mireille Mathieu is a French singer who was born in the '40s and she is known for her beautiful and perfectly coiffed bowl cut. And you can see there too that we would tend to think that Yvette has gone into that 1960s aesthetic, because that was when the singer, Maryelle, who was a singer who's recorded something like 1,200 songs, that was when she really came into her power as an international star coming out of Europe. And so again, if we talk about it in that context of looking back in time to embrace yourself as who you are and how you want to represent yourself to the people who you're in front of, I think this Yvette Coppersmith is beautiful. And she won the Archibald back in 2018 with another portrait where she created herself in the style of George Lambert, who is another notable Australian painter. Is there anything about this that really grabs you, Rebecca?

- Yeah, I think it's definitely the hair, I think. And again, it's that self-representation drawing back on period styles and those cultural and social influences that, I guess, shape us and then how we interpret those and present ourselves to the world. And I think that her practise and doing that and that she inserts herself into, yeah, into these time periods as a way of representing herself, yeah, it's really interesting I think to look at. And I like how we can compare and contrast with the NPPP entry of, yeah, inserting in a period into the now and feeling strength in that and identifying with that in certain parts and aspects.

- Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

- Yeah.

- All right, well look, why don't we go to the next set. I really like this set.

- Yeah, me too. I think it was definitely one of my favourites, yeah.

- We've got on the left, that's "The Hoodie" by Jacob Nash. And on the right is "Gareth" by Harley Manifold. Let's go to "The Hoodie" first and we'll just have a bit of a look and then we'll start talking about it.

- Yeah, so "The Hoodie" by Jacob Nash. And so we've got Beau Dean Riley Smith as the subject here and he is a dancer for Bangarra. And Jacob Nash is actually the Creative Director of Bangarra as well. And what's really, I think, beautiful about this work is that we've sort of got a collision of two worlds. We've got a dancer, an Aboriginal dancer, , ready for a performance for the Bangarra Dance Theatre. But he's backstage and he's in a moment, I guess, of transformation where he becomes a livened sort of performance. But he's also wearing a sports hoodie so he's bringing sort of like this real, I suppose like contemporary life of wearing these sports clothes and everything but still in a very traditional spiritual sense of being painted up, ready to do a cultural performance and have the energy of the spirit. Yeah, so I think it's just this really lovely bringing of two worlds but it also is this sort of private and public life where we've been invited in, and Jacob as well, to be invited in backstage in that moment of transformation. So yeah, sort of inner worlds and outer worlds and our public and private spheres, I think.

- Yeah, I really like that. The framing of the work by Nash is very much around boding Riley and it is very much a portrait of him but he is completely contextualised by that beautiful soft focus background and all of that activity happening as they prep to go out on stage and all of that kind of thing.

- Yeah, absolutely. There's, I guess that stillness to it as well 'cause he's just fully captured in that moment.

- It's interesting, isn't it, because you can't see his eyes because it's got such dramatic shadow, but you know for a fact that he's looking right down the lens. And so there is, again, that sort of strength in capture, right.

- In the gaze, yeah. Absolutely.

- Now, speaking of backstage, there's another type of backstage. If we go to the next slide. So now we have "Gareth" in his bathtub, which is definitely a behind-the-scenes view. And I think this is interesting because Harley Manifold painted Gareth. They know each other. They both live in the Warrnambool area, which is in Southwestern Victoria. And they're both artists. Gareth is also a painter. He also does public programmes and education programmes for his neighbourhood. And he has a thing about the comics and comic book characters and superheroes. And so that that he's got, that he's wearing in his bathtub is a Batman mask. And it's interesting. This is quite a small painting. It doesn't take up a lot of room on the wall. And I think that speaks to the intimacy of the portrait and also that while obviously we're allowed to view Gareth in this environment, he's not looking at us, he's not engaging with the audience at all. So it does very much feel like we're being invited into this private introspective, almost self-reflective sort of experience with Gareth.

- It is a very intimate work. Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there, very much in the gaze as he's looking away and in an intimate moment of himself. But also I suppose maybe the removal of that mask is reflecting something else as well about himself and maybe how he goes out into the world and then his private life, again.

- Yeah, yeah. That's true. And I like the last line of the artist's statement that you can see there on the slide where Harley says, "Of heroes - I believe Gareth is one," which is really lovely. There's a sort of a sense of cheek about this too, because of the idea of wearing a superhero mask while you're in the bathtub.

- Yeah, it's a gorgeous work.

- All right, are we ready for our third set?

- I think so, yeah.

- What do you think?

- Yeah, let's jump into it.

- Oh, this one's fun.

- Yeah. So very lockdown works in COVID obviously, considering what's been happening in the last couple of years. So we did see a lot of works that talked about these themes of COVID, of lockdown, of isolation. So this first work from the NPPP, "The final hours of our 14-day home isolation "during the COVID-19 pandemic." It's so chaotic, this work. And I think what's fabulous about is actually the chaotic nature of it and this really sense of joy and humour as well that we see in it. It has such a sense of unravelling of family environment, but also the impact of being in isolation with a family, with a small child and the chaotic nature, and also not being able to leave the house. It's still very joyous, though, because they were able to be together. And I think this work, it has all these little funny elements to it of components, I suppose, like all of the books and the strewn across bags on the floor and that he's wearing just his underpants, I think, really reflects a lot of what many families, I guess, even within Australia but also globally, went through and not necessarily needing to wear pants anymore.

- No, well that's true. All of our meetings are from the waist, up.

- Yeah.

- But it's interesting 'cause this is a self-portrait.

- Yeah.

- I think Clint is the man who's showing us his legs. And yeah, it's interesting because it is a portrait, but it is also kind of a still life because it is capturing that chaos and saying, do you know what, this is just the way we've had to live our lives for however long. Depending on which bit of the country you were in, your lockdowns either went for a reasonable time or they just kept on going and going. I agree, there is that really lovely dichotomy of, it's almost like they're at the end of their tether. But then at the same time, they're like, do you know what, but that's fine too. This is just, this is life.

- This is life.

- And we're just gonna own it.

- Very much, yeah. I think it's a very big statement of, this is the reality and this is life right now, yeah.

- He's used the doorway to their flat as a framing mechanism.

- Yeah. Yeah. I quite like that 'cause it is a very, it's that private life again, like we're given opportunity to look into somebody's life through, I guess, photographic portraiture in this sense. Well, that's what portraiture is right, where we want to learn about the citizen we're invited in through our relationships between the sitter and the artist, but then also the audience. So I think the framing through the door is, I think it's quite clever.

- Yeah, yeah I agree. I agree, it is. And I like that it's basically saying, do you know what, you can come in. We're inviting you in. We don't really care that this is what the lounge room looks like. Come on in. Just join the fun. Alright, lets have a look at Glen Morgan's take on COVID. Now, Glen's work is really interesting. This is probably the most nontraditional work that we have in this year's Darling. Glen tends to work in what's called bas-relief, which is spelled B-A-S-R-E-L-I-E-F. And so it's not painting on canvas or anything like that. He actually carves into wood and creates a semi three-dimensional sort of vignette, and that's how he does his portraiture. And so this is a small oval work where, again, Glen has in his self-portrait invited us into his living space during COVID. And it's an interesting one because I think his naivety, his style of art, which is fun and irreverent and, as I say, quite naive and simplistic, again, speaks to that chaotic nature of the COVID environment.

- Yeah, very much so. I quite like this work as well. I think it has that theatrical, humorous nature to it as well, and definitely have those vibes of chaos. Very much so.

- It does, doesn't it. And it's interesting because Glen's artist statement talks about his feelings of frustration with "Bloody COVID-19", and his visual appearance. And isn't that interesting for an artist to talk about noting how he presents himself in COVID and it kind of goes back to Clint wearing his undies because you only saw everybody from the waist, up, for a couple of years. But I think that the incorporation of text into Glen's work is really interesting as well, because he's basically having a conversation, a literal conversation with the viewer or the audience. He's not asking you to guess anything about his work.

- Yes, it's very clear.

- It's all out there.

- Yeah. Yeah. Should we jump to the next one?

- Yeah, do you know what, I think we will. Yeah, let's go to the next set. These are great if we wanna talk about strength of gaze.

- Yeah, and stance and power. Yep.

- We have "Emily and Effi" by Bec Lorrimer from the NPPP. And then we have "Lucinda, Tram Driver" by Avraham Vofsi from the Darling. So let's tackle "Emily and Effi" first.

- Yeah, "Emily and Effi" are such a strong work and it's very much about the gaze and the stance and the power of who you are, I guess. They're very strong people. And I remember when I first saw this work, I instantly was like, oh, they're so cool and they're so powerful. But yeah, definitely the gaze is so strong, which is, they're directly looking back at us. And also, I think the way that they're a bit higher than us and they're looking down a bit on us, so there is that power, yeah, through stance and not just through looking. And then I think compositionally, this is a really great work. I loved how the background sort of fades away a little bit. I love the, I guess, the lines of that corrugated and also their choice of very plain clothes. And it's just a really big, great work. But I think coming back about the artist's statement in this and why these two girls were captured. I like the idea of being reconnecting with your environment and people around you as the result of COVID. Like there was sort of this reconnection and appreciation for just the everyday person. And I think you can sort of see that in the Darling work as well, in that, it's the tram driver and the appreciation of, I guess, people doing everyday jobs that keep us all working in a way.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- Yeah.

- It's interesting, isn't it, because with "Emily and Effi", Bec talks about going out into the neighbourhood and creating, strengthening bonds with her local community and just meeting strangers, and this is one of the best outcomes, I suppose, of the COVID and having to work, live within our bubbles and that kind of thing. And so there's a strong possibility she never would've shot these two young women, "Emily and Effi" if it wasn't for COVID. But one of the things I really about it is that it is quite informal.

- Yeah.

- It looks like they're probably in their backyard or whatever. They're very self-assured women but it almost feels like they were just caught in a moment in time while they were having a chat or something like that.

- A very candid passing moment, yeah.

- So it's interesting to see how portraiture can be so successful, even though on its surface it could be considered quite informal.

- Absolutely.

- We don't know, Bec could've taken quite the time setting this shot. I think the orientation, as you say, of the camera shooting from quite low is probably an indication that the photographer did put a lot of thought into this work.

- Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. Yeah.

- All right, let's have a look at "Lucinda". I love this work. It's another direct gaze, isn't it? She's looking right at us and it seems like she might be on a bit of a break or something like that. But she's in her tram driver uniform, so a Melbourne resident. I think it's really interesting because it's a strong gaze, but it's quite a gentle, soft gaze. Like there's nothing confrontational in it at all. It's very much about almost spending a quiet moment with "Lucinda".

- Yeah, absolutely. I think, yeah, the gazing both works. It's very prominent, but again, the two different types of gaze, the soft gaze and then I suppose that very powerful, self-assured gaze. But, I mean, Lucinda also looks very self-assured. She knows who she is as well, but it's just the softness to it.

- Yeah. Yeah. Possibly, "Emily and Effi", there's a bit of fierce in there.

- Yeah. But yeah, I think the tonal range that a Avraham has captured in this portrait particularly speak to me. It's a lot of mid tone.

- Yeah.

- But that softness of the lavender palette through the sky.

- Through the sky, yeah.

- And how that relates to the green tonalities of Lucinda's scarf and her uniform. It's just a really beautiful, there's a delicacy to the work even though it's quite an expressionist painting style.

- Absolutely, yeah, I think you nailed it up there actually. It's the softness and the painterlyness of it. It's just, it's very beautiful. It's just a beautiful portrait.

- And it's interesting, 'cause I think I've just realised that with the works that you picked from the NPPP and the work that I pick from the Darling, I think you've gone for fairly large photographs. And I think I've almost entirely, or up until now gone for very small, quite small paintings. But it's interesting, isn't it, how the scale... Again, "Lucinda" isn't a very large painting, but she really holds her own on the wall. She has such presence. And I hope that as many of you can come to Canberra as possible to see it because she really does, as they all do, just draw you right in when you're able to be in the room with them.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- It's interesting, 'cause a Avraham in his artist statement here, he does absolutely reference what you mentioned a little while ago back that this is very much about lifting up and celebrating and saying thank you and acknowledging our essential workers in the community during this COVID period. But I think just like so many of a lot of other works that we've been talking about, this portrait of "Lucinda", that portrait of "Emily and Effi", they could've been captured at any point. You don't necessarily know that it's in the COVID environment until the artist tells us that that's how these works came about. And I quite like that because I think, for me, that is a signifier that we might be moving out of that complete overwhelming reactionary idea that COVID overlays everything we do. And we're coming out of that and it's still very much a part of our lives but our lives are more than that.

- Yeah. Yeah. And a movement forward, I suppose, another chapter, the next chapter of what's happening.

- We say as we talk to you digitally because we couldn't have got you into the building. Anyway. Okay, let's go to the next set. We've got "Lunch at Fran's" by Abigail Varney. And we've got "Behind Closed Doors" by Renata Pari-Lewis. And I think one thing you and I both mentioned was the photograph, "Lunch at Fran's" looks quite painterly in this context.

- It does, yes. Very much so. I like this portrait. I think it's, because it, the environment becomes the portrait as well. It's not so much about necessarily the likeness of Fran. It's about the environment and then being, I guess, as I was talking about earlier about being invited into the private lives of people. There's quite a stillness in this work. It feels like time has stopped a little bit when we look at it. And I guess that there's that idea of a still life as well and that painterly notion of it. And I think even just of the previous works that we were just talking about in that, you know, like going past COVID era and that life goes on, this I think really goes into it as well that our lives do go on. We have circumstances and events and experiences that happen to us, but it doesn't mean that life just stops there and then. It's just the next chapter, which is very much, I suppose, in Fran's life now and the changes of her life. But what's great, I think, also about this work is the composition of it. It's very balanced. Fran's in the middle, but there's all of these other elements and objects around her that make up very much of that portrait as well. It's not just Fran, it's it's Fran's environment too.

- Yeah, so I think the photographer said that Fran's husband passed away not too long ago.

- Yeah.

- And there's a little bit of symbolism in the composition there with the empty chair in the foreground. And the fact that Varney, the photographer has created it in a way and it's pulled the frame so far back to make it really clear that there's more than enough room in that space than for just Fran. And so I think it's an interesting way to use the composition to speak to the fact that, Fran, as a person, capturing a portrait of Fran talks about the fact that her circumstances have changed and she now inhabits this space, I guess, by herself. It's interesting, isn't it, 'cause you can get quite emotional about these things. Yeah.

- But I don't necessarily think this is a particularly sad

- No.

- Portrait either.

- I agree with you, yeah.

- There's a sense of peace to it maybe.

- Yeah, and I think that's what I mean by this idea of stillness and reflection but not necessarily, like emotions aren't bad. They're not inherently bad and these chapters, they move on.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- Yeah.

- That's exactly right. Yeah, I really like this work. And I like that it revolves around food. And Varney, the photographer mentions that, it is "Lunch at Fran's", but she talks about the fact that it's about Fran handing out the bread that she made that morning and all of that kind of thing. It's funny how we can get hints about who Fran is not just from this portrait where, again, she's in silhouette, we can't really see her face. But we do get a sense of who she is from her environment, but also from the little snippets that the photographer gives us in the artist statement.

- Absolutely.

- All right, let's go to the next one from the Darling, which is "Behind Closed Doors" by Renata Peri-Lewis. This is really interesting, I think, as a portrait because much like the one of Fran, it is absolutely using the environment as a mechanism to help us understand the sitter, the subject. Jess Hill, as you can see there in the artist statement, is an investigative journalist. And she has most recently in her career tackled some really intense subjects around domestic and family abuse. I think for Renata to decide to represent Jess in this sort of space where it is an intimate domestic space, I think she looks like she's sitting on the end of her bed.

- Yeah.

- It's not pulling any punches when she's talking about the contribution, the reason why she's painting Jess and the fact that the artist, Renata, wants to speak to the things that Jess is doing in her work and for her community, through the composition of the portrait. The colours are interesting too. I think they hark back probably to early expressionism. A bit of fauvist colour palette there with the orange and the deep blues and greens.

- Yeah.

- But, again, we can't really see Jess. If we walk past her on the street, we wouldn't necessarily recognise her.

- Recognise, yeah.

- From this portrait but I don't think it matters, to be perfectly honest. Because as I say, I think this is the sort of portrait that speaks to the actions of the person rather than the representation of a person. And I was so pleased to see that the judges had selected it for the exhibition because I think it is a very strong work. And I will mention, it's nowhere near as small as the other one, but so far, it takes up quite a bit of space. It's got a lot of presence.

- Yeah. Yeah. No, I like this work too. And again, it's the actions and environments that make this portrait. And I like the tonal palette of it and the painted effect of it. Yeah, I think it's a lovely work.

- It's interesting, isn't it, 'cause it has that same sort of sense of introspection that "Gareth" and his bathtub did, I suppose.

- With the side view as well.

- Yeah, not looking at us. The posture too, probably. It's a very private moment. All right, now I think we're coming into our final set but the exciting thing is we decided to go with the winners of the prizes 'cause we thought we have to talk about the works that the judges decided were the standouts for these prizes this year. So we've got "Silent Strength" by Wayne Quilliam on the left from the NPPP. And we've got Jaq Grantford's self-portrait which she's called "2020". Don't get confused, she painted it in 2021 and it's currently 2022. We've noticed some aesthetic connections and similarities between these works now that we've got them side-by-side.

- Absolutely.

- But we might talk about that in a little bit. Do you wanna start by tackling this amazing work by Wayne?

- Yeah, so "Silent Strength" by Wayne Quilliam. So this was the 2022 National Photographic Portrait Prize winner, and the work is so incredibly strong. It has such presence as well when you see it in real life. It's quite large. And Eric Yunkaporta, the subject, the sitter, his gaze is so strong and powerful looking back at you. There's such a sense of, I suppose, masculinity, but also vulnerability that I feel when I look at this work. And also, I think Wayne Quilliam is a First Nations man, photographer, and then Eric is also a First Nations man from Aurukun up in Far North Queensland. And I think the power for me in this as well is First Nations people photographing First Nations sitters. There's such a connection to culture in both past, present and future. It's really dynamic and it's shown through this work. There's cultural pride and also cultural autonomy that I think definitely comes through. There's representation, and in an honest form too. And as I say, when I say First Nations people taking photos of other First Nations people, it starts challenging, I suppose, ethnographic photography, but also, I think, social documentary of people and communities that we have a history of doing within Australia and abroad. So I think for me, this is one of the biggest reasons. Not only is it a stunning portrait and the strength through composition, through technique and all of these other things, but it really, I think maybe the ethos and the value of I guess maybe changing the conversation and the way that people are represented and having a platform and autonomy, I think.

- Yeah, I think if we come back again, much like we talked about with "Jamie Bianca" right at the beginning, that agency of how they choose to represent themselves. And I guess non-indigenous artists can have all the best intentions in the world and they can do marvellous jobs capturing people who aren't the same cultures as them, but when it comes to the point of having these amazing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists capturing their own communities in their own people, it adds another layer of integrity to the practise.

- Absolutely.

- Which is extraordinary and it really does grab you. I was lucky enough to have a bit of a chat to Wayne on the day that he won the prize. You couldn't 'cause you were up north at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair. I just assumed that this was a formal studio portrait, which is a very Western tradition that it's part of the vernacular of portraiture in Australia. But it turns out that this was in a backyard or something or just out on the land.

- Yeah. As part of a festival.

- Yeah, as part of a festival. Because he's got his ceremonial ochres on and everything for a traditional right.

- Yeah, for dance.

- But no, so Wayne just sort of rigged up a little bit of black fabric or something on a tree, I think, and then got Eric to stand in front of it. And the really lovely thing that we also learned, or that Wayne had put two and two together on was that Wayne had photographed Eric's grandfather 30 years earlier in kind of the same space. So that was just amazing that there's this continual connection in community.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- But that gaze is, like you say, it's a vulnerability.

- It's so striking.

- But it's the strength as well.

- Yeah. Yeah. And I think the tidal silent strength is so fitting for the work. Yeah, it encapsulates everything of what I think of what this portrait is.

- I think you've said to me when we were talking about it with Nick when we were deciding that it was the winner, I think you said something about First Nations masculinities can be quite,

- Yeah.

- Different or maybe not what we understand masculinity to be in Western culture.

- Yeah. I think it was definitely, yeah, this idea of, I guess, masculinity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and, I guess, what's been put out into popular society that arcs back in both historic situations as well and conversations and dialogues around masculinity of First Nations people. But again, I think the strength in the work is through the vulnerability of that masculinity. So he's very strong and the pride as being, I suppose, a man as well, but there is a vulnerability in the sense of private life too. And it's taken back a little bit, I think.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- Yeah.

- All right, well let's have a look at the Darling winner, "2020" by Jaq Grantford. This as a painting is really quite interesting 'cause Jaq is a realist artist. This is a hyper real work. So to see it sitting next to Wayne's portrait of Eric Yunkaporta was really quite interesting because they both have very similar, I guess, compositional dynamisms around the darkness of the background, the accoutrements in their hair. And the gaze too.

- Yeah.

- And this is interesting because Jaq's a very, obviously, she's a very competent, very, very good painter. And for her to do a self-portrait where she's speaking about, again, some vulnerable elements, you know, she's speaking to COVID and the stresses that that put on her. Although she has also said it was kind of nice having the excuse to have to be squirrelled away in her studio for long, long, long periods because you weren't allowed out. She just got to paint. But also, since she worked on this portrait, she was diagnosed with cancer. And all of that lovely, lovely, messy hair with all of the brushes stuck in it, she actually lost all their hair. And so, for Jaq to be putting the finishing touches on this work when she's going through these challenges and struggles in her personal life, and I think that that comes through absolutely in the look in her eyes, you know. Again, there is that, it's strong, but it's incredibly vulnerable, but very open and honest as well. And again, it speaks to that privilege that we get given by not just the artists being willing to put themselves out there and offer these works to us, but also the sitters, the subjects being willing to be met and explored and even interrogated by us.

- Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

- I was lucky enough to be in the room when the judges selected this one. It was an interesting process because Nicholas Cullinan is in London and Clothilde was in Perth. And so our director, Karyn, was the only judge that was in the building and the rest was done virtually. And so I do remember them talking about this work when they were making the decision to select Jaq's self-portrait. And it was very much about this sort of combination of the gaze and how successful Jaq has been in having this really honest, integrity-filled connection with the viewer. But it was also about her capacity to deliver a really unusual composition and do it with such success.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Yeah.

- Yeah. It is, the gaze in it is very strong and I agree. The privilege that we have, as viewers of looking at works like this, of having artists and sitters be quite vulnerable and express private and personal moments of their life that aren't necessarily performed. Yeah.

- Yeah. And one thing that you and I have both talked about when we've been looking at the prizes, 'cause I got to work on the arrangement for the Darling and you got to work on the arrangement for the NPPP, was that there is a lot of offering of emotions in these two prizes this year. I mean, we're learning people's stories and everybody lives their own experiences. And there's a good chance that some of the people that we get to learn about in these prizes this year, we will never have the same experiences as them, but we will understand the emotions that they're going through at the time, whether they're the good ones or the bad ones.

- Absolutely, I think, yeah, the universality of all of the emotions and experiences and as you say, while we might not necessarily ever experience one of the events that people are talking about, we can understand, I think, the emotions of it at some point in our life as well. And definitely, I think in the arrangement of the NPPP, of the exhibition and the works, there's a really lovely storyline or thread through those emotions. And you can travel around and sort of feel each work and come into it with, and somewhat of an emotional experience too, I think.

- Yeah, a connection.

- And a connection to it, yeah, absolutely.

- Do you know what, I think that might be a nice note to wrap things up. What do you think, Robert?

- [Robert] Yeah, I think that's covered all the portraits that we were gonna look at today. Do you wanna say your farewells?

- Yeah, so thank you very much for joining us today and hopefully we'll see you at the next programme, and absolutely, at the gallery if you can come to Canberra. And I think, Robert, we might be putting in a little note about how people can maybe choose their favourite portrait as well.

- Oh, People's Choice.

- Yeah.

- Oh yes, let me pull myself up on the screen. There we go. Oh, thanks so much Rebecca and Sandra for that. It's always such privilege to hear our curators giving their insights behind the portraits in our exhibitions. Also, thanks very much to our hardworking Auslan interpreters, Andrea and Sheri, well done. The Darling Portrait Prize and the National Photographic Portrait Prize, 2022, are open until the 9th of October. So if you are in the Canberra region, get on down here. You've got a little while to go, so you can see them actually hanging on the wall. If you can't get to Canberra, all of the images that we looked at today in this presentation, but all of the portraits in both of those exhibitions can be found on our website which is portrait.gov.au. And you can see the artist statements and see the images in their full glory. And at the bottom of each page with the portrait, you can vote for your choice for the People's Choice Award. That's right, Sandra. And we always wait with baited breath to see that choice made. Lastly before we go, just a quick plug that we're starting our National Photographic Portrait Prize Slow Looking Programme, looking at the NPPP on Mondays from the 1st of August. So if you have an hour spare at lunchtime on Mondays, come in for a good, slow look at some of the other portraits in that exhibition. We will continue our regular Tuesday Virtual Highlights Tours at lunchtime on Tuesdays, so keep in touch with those. And as I said at the top, we've got these two exciting Art Making Workshops coming up in September, October. So just go to portrait.gov.au to the What's On section to find out about those. I think that's it from us. So thanks, everyone. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you at our next online engagement. See you later.