Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize 2026 I Various Artists
Photo Access I 16 July – 15 August 2026
The Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize is an annual competition event conducted by Photo Access which results in an exhibition celebrating both emerging and established talents in photo media. Open to photographers worldwide, regardless of experience level, it showcases new perspectives in contemporary photography, offering a kaleidoscopic view of photographic art.
Forty finalists’ artworks are on display. The winning piece this year is 엄마의 초상화 (Portrait of My Mother), 2026 by Estelle Yoon. At the opening, after this was announced, I was one of many people who went in to check it out and overheard several of them querying how it could possibly be a portrait of the artist’s mother - given that there was no physical person in the image. Rather it is a photograph of an empty chair at the edge of an otherwise empty structure overlooking a frozen lake with part of a bridge in the background. So the questions in the viewers minds were fair enough.
However, referral to the artist’s statement answers everything. The location is the artist’s late mother’s childhood home. She imagined her mother sitting there. The print is on glass, thus mirroring the fragile nature of our memories. The portrait attempts to hold on to what is gone. So, in my view, this artwork is a worthy choice by the judges.
There are, inevitably, numerous other works that might be selected as the best by different viewers. But that’s the way it always is with competitions. From the forty works selected as finalists, I felt that a large number of them would have been serious contenders and I’m glad I didn’t have to make the choice. I don’t have room to discuss all of them, but here are my comments about a small selection of the others.
Lisa Jayne Cramer’s work is also about a mother, but a very different one. Hidden Mother I-III, 2026 is a triptych which tells a powerful story about the artist’s desire to be a mother which never eventuated despite years of persistence. Her dream, her hoped for role as a mother, sadly evaporated leaving her to grieve, to let go, to care for herself rather than the child she wanted. As a person who adopted children because we couldn’t produce our own, this work spoke loudly to me.
Danica Chappell’s Kaleidoscope series, 2025 is another delightful triptych. I think this is the first time I have seen an albumen work that is hand-coloured on vintage typewriter paper. I love the fact that the artist has flouted the long-held “rule” that light-sensitive paper or film should never be touched. That was drummed into my head years ago, along with the need to ensure our workspaces in darkrooms and water used in processing were all clean. Experimentation is how, as artists, people learn and develop new skills – and produce this type of most interesting work.
It is partly for the same reason that I enjoyed Resurfacing Roots, 2025 by Anna Kiparis. She used Maribyrnong River mud water to submerge her analogue film photographs of the landscape to mirror and commemorate the impacts of the 2022 Maribyrnong River flood. The resultant artwork shown in this exhibition speaks clearly to us.
Josh Hughes has produced a most interesting video work titled How do you move?, 2026. It focusses exclusively on isolated body parts (the hands, feet, and mouth). It pushes and pulls, pitting ‘opposing actions’ against each other and revealing a grey area in between. It is well worth spending 4 minutes 38 seconds to view and listen to it all.
Forty finalists’ artworks are on display. The winning piece this year is 엄마의 초상화 (Portrait of My Mother), 2026 by Estelle Yoon. At the opening, after this was announced, I was one of many people who went in to check it out and overheard several of them querying how it could possibly be a portrait of the artist’s mother - given that there was no physical person in the image. Rather it is a photograph of an empty chair at the edge of an otherwise empty structure overlooking a frozen lake with part of a bridge in the background. So the questions in the viewers minds were fair enough.
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Estelle Yoon - 엄마의 초상화 (Portrait of My Mother), 2026, glass, 35mm photograph, 43 x 28 cm (image courtesy photo access) |
However, referral to the artist’s statement answers everything. The location is the artist’s late mother’s childhood home. She imagined her mother sitting there. The print is on glass, thus mirroring the fragile nature of our memories. The portrait attempts to hold on to what is gone. So, in my view, this artwork is a worthy choice by the judges.
There are, inevitably, numerous other works that might be selected as the best by different viewers. But that’s the way it always is with competitions. From the forty works selected as finalists, I felt that a large number of them would have been serious contenders and I’m glad I didn’t have to make the choice. I don’t have room to discuss all of them, but here are my comments about a small selection of the others.
Lisa Jayne Cramer’s work is also about a mother, but a very different one. Hidden Mother I-III, 2026 is a triptych which tells a powerful story about the artist’s desire to be a mother which never eventuated despite years of persistence. Her dream, her hoped for role as a mother, sadly evaporated leaving her to grieve, to let go, to care for herself rather than the child she wanted. As a person who adopted children because we couldn’t produce our own, this work spoke loudly to me.
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| Lisa Jayne Cramer - Hidden Mother I-III, 2026, archival pigment print, 41.2 × 97.6 cm (image courtesy photo access) |
Danica Chappell’s Kaleidoscope series, 2025 is another delightful triptych. I think this is the first time I have seen an albumen work that is hand-coloured on vintage typewriter paper. I love the fact that the artist has flouted the long-held “rule” that light-sensitive paper or film should never be touched. That was drummed into my head years ago, along with the need to ensure our workspaces in darkrooms and water used in processing were all clean. Experimentation is how, as artists, people learn and develop new skills – and produce this type of most interesting work.
 |
| Danica Chappell - Kaleidoscope series, 2025, albumen, hand coloured on vintage typewriter paper, 41.5 x 97.8 cm (image courtesy photo access) |
It is partly for the same reason that I enjoyed Resurfacing Roots, 2025 by Anna Kiparis. She used Maribyrnong River mud water to submerge her analogue film photographs of the landscape to mirror and commemorate the impacts of the 2022 Maribyrnong River flood. The resultant artwork shown in this exhibition speaks clearly to us.
 |
| Anna Kiparis - Resurfacing Roots, 2025, Maribyrnong River mud water, pigment ink on cotton rag, 80 x 55 cm (image courtesy photo access) |
Josh Hughes has produced a most interesting video work titled How do you move?, 2026. It focusses exclusively on isolated body parts (the hands, feet, and mouth). It pushes and pulls, pitting ‘opposing actions’ against each other and revealing a grey area in between. It is well worth spending 4 minutes 38 seconds to view and listen to it all.
 |
| Josh Hughes - How do you move?, 2026, single-channel digital video, sound, 00:04:38 installation dimensions variable (image courtesy photo access) |
The final artwork I will specifically mention is Together/Apart, 2025 by Ryan Dandelion. It is simply a contact silver gelatin print of a dry glass plate negative which cracked as he removed it from the holder to tray develop. The crack passed through the stone of a ring upon a pair of crossed hands. That simple mishap spoke to the artist, saying “Together yet forever apart.”
There is so much of interest amongst the forty works on display. The exhibition is well worth a visit, but if you are not able to get there you can (at the time of my writing this) see all the actual works (not installation views of them) and read the artist statements here.
This review is also available on the author's blog.
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| Ryan Dandelion - Together/Apart, 2025, silver gelatin print, 25.4 x 20.3 cm (image courtesy photo access) |
This review is also available on the author's blog.