Want to read about a portrait without having to lean in? Do you use a screen reader? Are you a bigger-font fan? Portrait Stories is the app that brings all the info to you. You can browse by gallery or use our scan technology to instantly access information about the sitter or artist. Be intrigued and inspired by two-minute interviews and personal stories told by the subjects and the artists as you encounter them. Listen to audio descriptions of selected portraits and translate wall labels into nine languages. It's like your own personal pocket guide to what's on show! Let's get digital!
About the Interviews and Audio Stories
Voice and personal histories are both precious and intimate. Layers of personality, presence and identity are conveyed through voice and personal narrative. These stories of key biographical moments have been edited from oral histories, audio recordings, and, for subjects who lived before audio recording was possible, actors voicing their words. Over 160 voices can be heard in the Portrait Stories app, and visitors to our website can also find the audio listed online or when viewing related portraits from the collection.
Development began in 2018 as the ground-breaking In their own words collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery and the National Library of Australia. The project drew on Hazel de Berg’s extraordinary audio recordings of Australian achievers held in the Library’s Oral History and Folklore Collection. Over 27 years, de Berg recorded 1290 Australians born between 1865 and 1953 who had made a mark in their fields of endeavour. She began donating her tapes to the Library in 1960. For more information about the interviews and to hear many of the complete recordings, please visit the National Library of Australia.
