2024 National Photographic Portrait Prize

Exhibition Review: Photography | Brian Rope

2024 National Photographic Portrait Prize | Various Artists

National Portrait Gallery, Canberra | 22 June – 13 October 2024 

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) website says the works by the 34 selected finalists in the National Photographic Portrait Prize (NPPP) this year provide a powerful visual record of the year, reflecting a particular time in Australian culture.

The selected winning work is Alexis with moon, 2024 by Amos Gebhardt and is a diptych – on the left we see something of the moon, on the right is author Alexis Wright. The judges “were taken by the sparse, yet powerful relationship created between the moon, the subject and the camera.” They said, "Wright is a noted First Nations author whose work collapses linear time and connects to ideas of the cosmos, and Gebhardt’s portrait, lit only by the moon, speaks directly to the sitter’s work."

Alexis with moon 2024 © Amos Gebhardt

Unsurprisingly, some think a different finalist should have been chosen, some don’t like, or don’t understand, it. I do like the work and am quite content with its selection. Along with numerous others, it illustrates how approaches have substantially changed over the years.

Whilst most of the exhibited works are pigment photographic prints on paper, one of them is in a kiln cast glass frame and another is from Polaroid Type 665 film. One work is a cyanotype, two are prints of original wet plate collodion process tintypes. There is a type C print and a digital type C print. Also there is a dye sublimation print on aluminium, and a UV print on glass, hand-cut glass, silicone on aluminium.

There are five Canberra and region finalists. Zoe Helene Karouzos has Mikayla with her brothers 2023 - a casual portrait of four tired siblings. Karouzos is an Australian/Greek photographer working on Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country in Kamberri/Canberra. Her work explores the intricacies and importance of interpersonal relationships, genealogy and our emotional connection to ancestors.

Mikayla with her brothers 2023 © Zoe Helene Karouzos

Prue Hazelgrove’s She 2023 is one of the original wet plate collodion process tintypes. Hazelgrove is a queer artist based on Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country in Gundaroo, who specialises in that process, using it to represent stories erased from conventional narratives, asking viewers to consider their biases and beliefs. This and other works in the exhibition certainly do require viewers to think about their beliefs.

She 2023 © Prue Hazelgrove

Brenda Louise Croft’s Men of High Degree: Jim Everett – puralia meenamatta (clan plangermairreenner, Ben Lomond people, Cape Portland nation, north-east Tasmania) 2023 is the other original wet plate collodion process tintype. Indeed, Hazelgrove was Croft’s technical assistant for this artwork. It is also a powerful portrait and very much the style of work we have come to expect from this artist.

Men of high degree Jim Everett - etc 2023 © Brenda L Croft, Prue Hazelgrove

Tamara Henderson’s work is the one in the kiln cast glass frame, a standout artwork in itself. Green in the Grooves 2023 is a still taken from a 16mm film. In this photographic frame the artist was under a pane of glass and soil was progressively scattered onto the glass. Henderson is an artist based on Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country in Kamberri/Canberra whose work draws attention to the often-unappreciated earth beneath our feet, the grounding of life on this planet.

Green in the Grooves 2023 © Tamara Henderson

Based on Walbunja Country, Dean Cross is an artist and Worimi man through his paternal bloodline. Old growth/New growth 2023 is a powerful in-your-face portrait of his naked wife, made in an old growth forest four days before the birth of their twins.

Old growth/New growth 2023 © Dean Cross

I can’t conclude without mentioning the work on hand-cut glass. Maman Simin 2023 by Ali Tahayori. This final photograph of her grandmother before she died was printed on clear glass, then broken by hand, and reassembled to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The image and the process together have produced a fine artwork.

Maman Simin 2023 © Ali Tahayori

I very much agree that the works on exhibition reflect much of Australians as we are at this time in our history. There are works by and about a range of Australians – young and old, Indigenous, ordinary people, the marginalised, migrants, various gender identities. The subject matter is most interesting and diverse.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.

OPERA GEMS FOR A WINTER'S EVE - National Opera Chorus

 

Alira Prideaux and Sitveni Talei in "Opera Gems for a Winter's Eve"

Conducted by Louis Sharpe – Associate Artist: Rebecca Simon

Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. 30^th June 2024.

Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

National Opera came up with the perfect diversion for a gloomy wet Canberra Sunday afternoon by presenting an afternoon of rousing opera choruses which drew a capacity audience to the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.

Neatly turned out, books in hand, 28 members of the chorus worked their way through a demanding selection of opera choruses by composers as varied as Verdi, Donizetti, Mozart, Lehar, Ponchielli and Schubert.

Despite the solemnity of some of the choruses, conductor Louis Sharpe kept the atmosphere buoyant by offering amusing introductions to each of the items, and accompanist Rebecca Simon proved an impressive substitute for an opera orchestra.

The program commenced with a confident rendition by the full chorus of the stirring “D’Immenso Giubilo” from Donizetti’s bel canto opera Lucia di Lammermoor in which Sitiveni Talei impressed with the tenor solo.

Two choruses from rarely heard operas followed. The lovely “Sul Brando La Mano” from Ponchielli’s I Lituani, and “Spuntato” from Verdi’s Don Carlo in which Terry Johnson sang the solo.

Terry Johnson and National Opera's male chorus in "Opera Gems for a Winter's Eve"

 

National Opera is about to commence rehearsals for its forthcoming production of The Merry Widow, so what better opportunity to preview the production than with a charming rendition of “Vilia”, by Sarah Darnley-Stuart, who will play the role of the widow in its production. Following which Katrina Wiseman and Andrew Barrow led the chorus in the spirited “Libiammo” from Verdi’s La Traviata.

The second half of the program commenced with the finale from Mozart’s Die Zauberflote, followed by the “hepherd’s Chorus” from Schubert’s Rosamunde and “Rataplan*
 from Verdi’s La Forza the later featuring soprano Keren Dalzell-Woodlock in sparkling form.

Alira Prideaux had a Cinderella moment during her cheeky duet with Sitivene Talei  who threatened to bring  the house down with their rendition of “Pa-Pa-Pa” from Mozart’s Die Zauberflote, after which everyone regained composure to perform the stirring  “Va Pensiero” from Verdi’s Nabucco.

The program officially ended  with an excellent account of the finale from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, but of course the audience wasn’t going to let the afternoon end without an encore, so with very little encouragement from conductor Sharpe, joined with the chorus for a hearty rendition of the famous “Anvil Chorus”. 

                                                             Images by Dalice Trost.

          This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 1st July 2024.

 

 

 

William Yang's Mardi Gras

Exhibition Review: Photography | Brian Rope

William Yang's Mardi Gras | William Yang

National Library of Australia (NLA) Treasures Gallery | 6 December 2023 – 1 December 2024

One of my prized possessions is a copy of Yang's book China, inscribed simply by his own hand “To Brian, Best Wishes, William Yang, Port Macquarie, 2011”. I had just heard and seen one of his presentations during the Australian Photographic Society’s annual convention in that coastal centre.

Yang is a well-known and renowned Australian performer, filmmaker, artist, and photographer. He began his career shooting fashion, but soon shifted to social documentary. Gay liberation, illegal Sydney warehouse parties, and AIDS-related deaths were all documented by this photographer.

Born in Mareeba, North Queensland, in 1943, Yang was raised in the little village of Dimbulah in the Atherton Tablelands. He got his first camera when he was seventeen but didn't start taking photography seriously until he was a university student. He relocated to Sydney in 1969 with the intention of becoming a playwright, but instead found employment as a freelance photographer covering social events. When his 1977 solo exhibition Sydneyphiles opened at the Australian Centre for Photography, his images received critical acclaim.

That exhibition gave viewers an almost voyeuristic glimpse into the social circles and private lives of people who were rarely seen by the general public, including socialites, fashion designers, actors, directors, artists, and Sydney's gay community. The community at that time was controversial as homosexual behaviour was prohibited. In Australia, pictures of gay life, love, and sex had never been shown so widely. Those who were gay and had their photos taken by the artist ran the risk of losing their jobs or facing rejection from their families.

In 1978, a newly formed Gay Solidarity Group held a protest demonstration followed by a parade celebrating queer pride: the Mardi Gras. Due to illness, Yang missed the first three annual parades whilst convalescing in Queensland. Returning to Sydney in time for the 1981 parade, Yang became a pre-eminent chronicler of Mardi Gras.

More than 250 of Yang’s photographs are held by the NLA. Among them are series relating to artists, writers, actors, celebrities, friends, Chinese Australians, intimate dinners, boisterous parties, and the Mardi Gras. This NLA Collections-in-Focus exhibition, William Yang’s Mardi Gras, displays material from over 20 years of photography documenting the parades. Originally opened late in 2023, the exhibition had to close whilst the venue was being renovated but has now resumed.

The 24 images displayed (all with Yang's trademark handwritten descriptions on them) explore four themes: Protest, Community, Art and Remembrance. What began as a protest event celebrating queer life, also became a community event; an artistic event; an event to remember people of the community lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

An image of a fairy makes a statement about the courage of revealing oneself as a gay/queer at that time.

Fairy, Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, 1982. William Yang (National Library of Australia-nla.obj-136859502)

An image of two people lighting a candle effectively and sensitively remembers those who died from AIDS.

“The Last Candle.” AIDS Vigil 1994. 2/10. William Yang (National Library of Australia-nla.obj-136864462)

Morals crusader, Fred Nile, was made fun of in the 1989 parade when a Papier Mâché version of his head on a platter made an appearance. Yang was there to get an image.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Head of Fred Nile
1989 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. William Yang
(National Library of Australia-nla.obj-136862227)

Yang was also there in 2009 to capture a simple, but effective, image of a protestor urging people to fight AIDS rather than Iraq where Australia had been involved in armed conflict from 2003.

“Protest.” NSW Mardi Gras. 2009 1/10. William Yang (National Library of Australia-nla.obj-136861261)

After years of documenting the parades, Yang wrote in his monologue Friends of Dorothy I’ve finally figured out what Mardi Gras is. It’s the re-enactment of a ritual. A ritual we have worked out over the years as defining and celebrating a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex culture.

In a review of Yang’s Sydneyphiles Reimagined, at the State Library of New South Wales, Edward Scheer wrote Yang’s photographs …… offer the complete opposite of the selfie. ….. he offers carefully framed and curated portraits. ……. He brings the pictures back into the present moment.

This exhibition reminds us of the importance of Collections held by the NLA and other institutions. The opportunities to see exhibitions of selections from such Collections should be taken by us all if we possibly can do so.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.