Hot shots: Stars (and stripes) from the 2024 National Photographic Portrait Prize

Through a child’s eyes, 2023

As I perch upon the electrical box on the corner of Swanston and Little Bourke streets, Melbourne, I watch tens of thousands of protesters stream by me like a river, trying to divert the course of history. As I look out over the sea of signs I look directly down to these eyes, a deep gaze observing me for a fleeting moment before moving along with the current. Luke Currie-Richardson

Luke Currie-Richardson is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist and photographer.

(indistinct chatter) 3, 2023

This is an intimate and personal work that pictures an improvised duet between my father, Travis Byng, and me. Together we move vulnerably and tenderly, negotiating each other’s limbs, with the subtle tensions inherent in the shared discovery and exploration of cultural and familial themes. The title refers to a caption seen in films, when multiple conversations are taking place but no particular dialogue is discernible. Arini Byng

Arini Byng is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist and photographer.

Maman Simin, 2023

This is my maternal grandmother, Maman Simin. She died recently, and this is the last photograph I took of her before she passed away. The portrait also represents her as a personification of the nurturing and life-giving Mother Earth, the homeland, and all our ancestors. Looking at the image, I am reassured that she is in a good place, resting in the infinity, while praying for her children. The photograph was printed on clear glass, then broken by hand, and reassembled to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Ali Tahayori

Iranian-born Tahayori is an artist based on Gadigal Land in Sydney.

Mikayla with her brothers, 2023

It was hot down at the river. Jax waded into the water, his mum yelling at him to come back and get into the photo. Four siblings, all tired from the night before, looked at me through my lens. I remembered what it was like to feel as though everything my parents asked me to do was a burden, and I knew that later in life Mikayla and her brothers would be grateful for these moments together. Zoe Helene Karouzos

The Australian-Greek photographer is based in Kamberri/Canberra.

Reinhold, 2023

In May 2023, Papa caught a plane to see me in Melbourne for one day and one night. We looked at art, walked a little, ate, took trams and sat by the river. It was the first time he had come to visit on his own since losing Sharon, his partner of 23 years. Katrin Koenning

Koenning is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist.

Alfie Barker (right view), 2023

“The feeling of being as at home in my body as I did before I went through puberty is indescribable. Transitioning for me has been like undoing as much of puberty as I can, back to who I was before I went through school. Before I knew what was expected of a female to wear and do and act like. Before school made me wear a dress every day. Before I was thrown into a society obsessed with rules on gender and the expectations that came with that. I am so proud every day that I made it back at age 24.” – Alfie Barker
Shea Kirk

Kirk, a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist, won the 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Stripe search, 2023

This is a staged portrait of a woman hiding in plain sight. “Susan” is trying to evade the facial-recognition technology that tracks our every move. People born in the internet age have likely been tracked since birth. Everywhere we go, we’re recorded without consent. Governments have used facial-recognition drones to track criminals, leading to wrongful arrests and myriad ethical concerns. I decided to approach this subject with humour instead of fear as we enter an uncertain, AI-influenced future. Jo Duck

Photographer Jo Duck lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne.

Old growth/New growth, 2023

This image was made in an old-growth forest in a secret corner of Walbunja Country near Braidwood, NSW, four days before the birth of our twins. Both photographer and subject are on a precipice; our world was about to change forever. Like the seed that preceded that giant tree, our boys contain a universe and that universe is contained within my wife Bridgette. The joy she possessed in that moment has carried through every day of being with our boys; a mother blossoming like the small white flowers of the tree behind her.
Dean Cross

Dean Cross is an artist and Worimi man.

S & T in the window, 2023

On the third floor of a converted warehouse in the heart of Collingwood, Surej and Tom embrace one another in the frame of what the apartment’s residents refer to as The Smoking Window. The contorted web of limbs protruding out from bare bodies creates an affectionate nest for nurturing, comfort and closeness. This private moment, happening behind closed doors
and in open windows, is an invitation into Surej and Tom’s personal celebration of queer intimacy – the image welcomes a wider audience to contemplate their own experiences with intimacy, in its many forms and contexts. J Davies

J Davies is a Takataapui (queer, trans, Maori) artist and photographer based in Naarm/Melbourne.

Images chosen from the works of 34 finalists in The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024, which will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra from June 22 to October 13.

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