Ben Apfelbaum

MORAN PORTRAIT PRIZE FINALISTS ON VIEW @ JUNIPER HALL

Founded by Doug and Greta Moran and family in 1988 for the celebration of Australia’s Bi-Centennial, the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, believed to be the world’s most valuable portrait prize, has been held annually ever since. This year, the Moran Arts Foundation  received more than 1,130 entries, double that of the Archibald Prize.

The Moran Prize winner who received $150,000 was Tim Storrier for a portrait Lunar Savant which was a portrait of his friend and fellow artist, McLean Edwards. Ironically this painting did not make the Archibald cut.

For the first time the judges Greta Moran, Daniel Thomas and Wendy Sharpe gave a Highly Commended Award to Dagmar Cyrulla’s self portrait entitled I am Woman.

The proceedings were chaired by Doug’s son Peter Moran and veteran media personality Richard Moorecroft.

This free exhibition showcasing all thirty finalist  is on view at Juniper Hall, 250 Oxford Street, Paddington, almost diagonally opposite to Paddington Town Hall. Opening times are Thursdays to Sundays between 10am and 4pm until 17th December.

Also free Artists Talks are being every Sunday at 2pm at Juniper Hall throughout November and December.

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Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.