Ben Apfelbaum

PORTRAIT AWARDS ANNOUNCED AT CANBERRA’S NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Hugh Stewart – ‘Eileen Kramer is a dancer’
Sibone Heary – The In Between
Sean Hutton – Tamara Dean
David Darcy – Wendy Bowman
Shea Kirk ‘Gemma Baxter 9right view)
Anthea da Silva – ‘Elizabeth’

Across the road from the National Gallery is the very popular National Portrait Gallery. Because it is smaller and more intimate than its huge concrete block neighbour, in many ways it is more popular than the Nation al Gallery Of Art.

Currently on show there are two very interesting exhibitions; the National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition and the Darling Portrait Prize exhibition.

In the photographic prize exhibition the winner was awarded $50,000 in prizes. The highly commended received a ColorEdge monitor and the Art Handler’s award received $2000. A People’s Choice Award will be announced on May 1.

The winner of the photographic portrait prize was ‘The mahi-mahi’ by Rob Palmer.  He won selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia’s aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

The highly commended award went to Hugh Stewart for ‘Eileen Kramer is a dancer’ (she is 105!).

The winner of the Art Handlers’ award went to Shea Kirk for ‘Gemma Baxter (right view)’.

The judges were Nici Cumpston (guest judge, Curator, Art  Gallery of South Australia), Naomi Hobson (guest judge, painter and photographer), and Penny Grist ( Curator, National Portrait Gallery) who selected 48 portraits to be exhibited from over 2,400 entries

Senior ballerinas seemed to be popular in both the photographic and portrait prizes. Anthea da Silva won the inaugural $75,000 Darling Portrait Prize with her painting of the high priestess of contemporary dance, Dr Elizabeth Cameron Dalman.

High commendations went to Sibone Heary for her self portrait titled the ‘In Between’,  David Darcy for his painting of 86 year old Hunter Valley farmer Wendy Bowman and Sean Hutton  for his portrait of artist Tamara Dean.

As with the photographic portrait prize, the People’s Choice Award will be announced on May 1.

These are charming and accessible exhibitions and both close on the 10th May, 2020.

If you decide to travel the Government announced COVID 19 protocols should be strictly followed and if you are unwell remain self isolated.

Featured image : Rob Palmer – The mahi-mahi. All pics by Ben Apfelbaum.

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.