National Portrait Gallery

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The National Portrait Gallery, situated on King Edward Terrace, Parkes, Canberra, bounded by the High Court of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia, displays some 400 portraits of people who have shaped Australia and who continue to shape our nation. Home to the nation's portrait collection the National Portrait Gallery comprises gallery spaces for the collection and temporary exhibitio

ns, public areas including a café, shop, function room, theatrette, education and school group areas, and basement car parking. To ensure that we keep our online community safe, we have developed a number of SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE COMMUNITY GUIDELINES:

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'Rashida, EBONY' by Arini Byng - National Photographic Portrait Prize Finalist 2026‘This photo collage layers a childhoo...
30/08/2026

'Rashida, EBONY' by Arini Byng - National Photographic Portrait Prize Finalist 2026

‘This photo collage layers a childhood photograph of my cousin Rashida over a page from EBONY magazine, bringing my family archive into dialogue with formative cultural experiences from the 1980s. It situates this private history alongside a publication of liberation, long described as “by us, for us”. Produced by the Johnson Publishing Company from 1945 to 2016, EBONY chronicled Black life in the US across social justice, health, beauty, fashion, sport and education. Through this act of overlay and assemblage, familial memory engages with broader histories – aligning Rashida’s image with EBONY’s visual language to bridge temporal distance and expand my understanding of Blackness today.’

Arini Byng is a multidisciplinary artist born on Gadigal Country and now based in Naarm/Melbourne. She explores how moments, objects and places appear within social and political debates and activates her family archive to navigate themes of identity, history and lived experience.

29/08/2026

'Uncle Mervyn Bishop - Australia’s first Aboriginal press photographer' 2025 by Dean Saffron - National Photographic Portrait Prize Finalist 2026

‘Uncle Mervyn Bishop, a proud Kamilaroi man and Australia’s first Aboriginal press photographer, reflects quietly just before his 80th birthday. His life’s work has helped shape the visual history of this nation, documenting moments of truth, dignity and change. For decades, his photographs created a record that ensured Aboriginal people were seen with honesty and authority. In this portrait, I wanted to honour Uncle Merv’s presence at this milestone, acknowledging the weight of what he has witnessed and preserved. His legacy continues to influence how stories are told and remembered across Australia.’

Dean Saffron is a proud Kamilaroi/Gomeroi photographer and filmmaker based on Kabi Kabi and Jinibara Country on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. His practice centres on respectful, collaborative portraiture and long-form storytelling with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

26/08/2026

'Passed out on the grass' 2026 by Scotty So - National Photographic Portrait Prize Finalist 2026

'In this series, I use archival Dior hats to investigate the tension between mid-century decorum and contemporary excess. As an immigrant, I encountered the “trashy” imagery of the Melbourne Cup long before moving to Australia. These scenes of public euphoric intoxication, often swept under the rug, became a significant contemporary cultural reference point for me. By restaging an iconic Cup photo in drag, I pair the elegance of a 1960s Dior hat with the debris on the grass. This performance transforms a high-status artefact into a tool for q***r spectacle, interrogating the shifting associations of class, fashion and national identity.’

Hong Kong-born Scotty So is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist. Driven by the thrill of camp, he explores the often-contradictory relationship between humour and sincerity, creating fictional scenes that slightly distort our sense of the familiar.

'Blak & Bare' 2025 by Tiarni Majid-Loban - National Photographic Portrait Prize Finalist 2026‘Blak & Bare is a reclamati...
26/08/2026

'Blak & Bare' 2025 by Tiarni Majid-Loban - National Photographic Portrait Prize Finalist 2026

‘Blak & Bare is a reclamation for First Nations people. It depicts the strength, resilience and sovereignty of every single one of us. Venita Mooney (the model) is a Yuwi, Meriam Mir and South Sea Islander woman. Her natural essence is one of softness, fierceness and inspiration. She is connected to her culture and is an artist at heart. Surrounded by the sea, bare, she shows that no matter what way the tide pulls, against or for us, we are still here. Our culture will never die. We still live on and continue to tell our stories.’

Tiarni Majid-Loban is a proud Wuthathi woman with connections to the Torres Strait who lives and works on Yuwi Country/Mackay, Queensland. In her photography practice she focuses on family and connection to place, documenting the present for the future.

24/08/2026

'Leith at the Dog Show' 2025 by Jo Duck - National Photographic Portrait Prize Finalist 2026

‘Creating staged portraits of fictional characters lights my fire. Even more so, finding collaborators who immediately understand the absurdity and jump on board brings me pure joy. Actor Maria Angelico and I exchanged some texts about dog shows then BAM, within hours we had wigs, costumes, her dog Peta and a two-hour community hall booking. The result is “Leith”, who is trying to earn respect from a community who don’t like him. He’s entered the dog show for acknowledgment, but Peta doesn’t respect him either. She performs for cameras, but the second after this shot, she bolts. Leith plods after, humiliated.’

Photographer Jo Duck lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne. Driven by an appreciation for all things camp, joyful and absurd, Duck’s photography centres on crafting unique characters who live confidently in worlds of their own.

23/08/2026

'UNTITLED: 01' 2025 by Hussein Abdirahman Mohamud - National Photographic Portrait Prize 2026 - Art Handlers' Award

‘This portrait depicts Eedo/Aunt Khadija, a resident of the Flemington public housing estate and a community organiser opposing its demolition. She asked that the image convey the suddenness with which her life in a close-knit community is being upended through evictions amid a state-wide redefinition of public housing. The photograph forms part of What Remains?, an ongoing project looking at how communities in Melbourne sustain social life in areas undergoing rapid change. It explores themes of perseverance in the face of broad social and economic disruptions that quietly, yet continually, stir earlier experiences of displacement.’

Hussein Abdirahman Mohamud is a photographer based in Naarm/Melbourne. His practice examines how lived environments are shaped by memory.

FIRST TIME FINALIST AWARD!Congratulations to this year's winner of the National Photographic Portrait Prize First Time F...
22/08/2026

FIRST TIME FINALIST AWARD!

Congratulations to this year's winner of the National Photographic Portrait Prize First Time Finalist Award Phuong Nguyen Le for his photograph 'Nghỉ/Nghiêm (Attention/At ease)' 2025.

‘This is a conceptually innovative portrait that has been executed with skill and tenderness. Phuong Nguyen Le has chosen to work with a technique that directly connects to the story at the centre of this work – illuminating photography’s role in painful histories including war and conflict. In adapting this technology to create a pair of beautifully rendered images, the artist performs an act of reclamation. All elements of the work are carefully considered, including the device of duplication which poetically conveys the complexity of the subject Lê Ngọc Long’s wartime experience.’ - National Photographic Portrait Prize Judges 2026

Phuong Nguyen Le is a Vietnamese photographer, artist and researcher based in Naarm/Melbourne. His work engages with counter-historical narratives and draws on familial, communal and collective identities within his communities. Le receives a $3,000 cash prize courtesy of our friends at EIZO APAC.

The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is NOW OPEN.

🏆 NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE WINNER 🏆We're delighted to announce that Nathan Beard has won this year's Nationa...
21/08/2026

🏆 NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE WINNER 🏆

We're delighted to announce that Nathan Beard has won this year's National Photographic Portrait Prize for their portrait, 'Mae Khong' 2026.

'This photograph of Nathan Beard’s aunt Mae Khong has an immediate and compelling emotional pull. Through its tight composition and simple colour palette interspersed with soft blue tones, combined with the vulnerability of a private yet familiar pose, the artist creates a portrait of palpable intimacy. Even though we can’t see the subject’s face, we are drawn into a connection with her, perhaps sensing the weight of her life experiences or recognising our own loved ones in this quietly captured moment. There is both resilience and fatigue legible in Mae’s posture. With water droplets still on her skin, this is a candid scene but it also speaks to the depth of familial connection between artist and subject.' - National Photographic Portrait Prize Judges 2026

Sadly, in July this year, Mae Khong passed away. Our deepest condolences go to her family, friends and community.

Beard will receive $30,000 cash prize courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery and $20,000 worth of equipment courtesy of Imaging Partner Canon Australia.

📷 Check out the winning work, the other 29 finalists and the 21 works in the curated retrospective on show until Sunday 11 October.

We have been fortunate to witness so many outstanding photographic portraits hung on our walls over these years. The tal...
19/08/2026

We have been fortunate to witness so many outstanding photographic portraits hung on our walls over these years.

The talent, the stories and the artistry have provided an incredible snapshot of Australia. There have been photos that have made visitors (and us) laugh, shed tears, get inspired and explore curiosities about the lives of others.

It wasn't easy to choose which portraits to showcase in this year's retrospective hang but one thing's for sure, there is immense photographic talent in this nation.

There will be over 20 works from previous years in our final National Photographic Portrait Prize 2026 exhibition.

Opens this Saturday 22 August to 11 October 2026.

ART HANDLERS' AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT!Huge congratulations to the winner of the National Photographic Portrait Prize Art Hand...
17/08/2026

ART HANDLERS' AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT!

Huge congratulations to the winner of the National Photographic Portrait Prize Art Handlers' Award Hussein Abdirahman Mohamud for his photograph 'UNTITLED: 01' 2025 from the series 'What Remains'? Mohamud receives a $3,000 cash prize courtesy of our friends IAS Fine Art Logistics.

‘This is a powerful work that makes us consider the broad impact of losing one’s home, particularly for those who have been double displaced and are experiencing a threat to the stability and comfort of their home once again. In this portrait, the subject possesses a striking stillness in the midst of her living room, where cardboard boxes, tissues and a picture that’s been removed from the wall remind us of the chaos of change’ - Gallery Art Handlers

Explore the detail of his captivating work this Saturday on the opening day of the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2026 exhibition.

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