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Liberate the labels

Apps

Want to read about a portrait without having to lean in?

Make a booking

Learn

Whether virtually or in person, here’s where you can arrange an educational visit.

Tom Goldner

Vox pops

The portrait's of my mother, Catherine, and the photograph was taken in a family home that we had and my mother was relocating to Tasmania.

Audio description

Access

Hear and read detailed audio descriptions of selected artworks from our Collection as we turn the visual into the verbal.

The Companion

Permanent collection catalogue

Publications

On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.

Onsite visit bookings

Make a booking

For in person visits, make an educational booking here through our bookcanberraexcursions.com.au portal.

Ticket and booking enquiries

Plan your visit

Change of booking requests and lost tickets.

Self, titled, 2013

by Stella Rosa McDonald

General content

Finalist, MDPA 2013

Sharon Zwi

Finalist interviews

We were in Gaza shooting a documentary and we had heard about the orphanages and wanted to visit and document some of the children who had lost parents during the wars in Gaza.

Literary lovers’ life liaison

Lust

Desire drives forbidden love

Australian Love Stories online

#PortraitureComesHome

Lust and longing, drama and devotion, seduction and scandal! Delve into an enticing array of tales of the heart.

Tony Sowersby

Vox pops

Sabine's the sister-in-law of one of my oldest friends so I've known her for a while.

Jane’s conviction

Devotion

Stand by your man

Friendship’s rhyme and reason

Nearest & Dearest

Poetic trio

Linde Ivimey

Contributing artists

Born: 1965, Sydney
Works: Sydney

Bern Emmerichs

Contributing artists

Born: 1961, Melbourne
Works: Melbourne

Shirley Purdie

Contributing artists

Born: 1947, Gilbun – Mabel Downs Station, WA
Works: Warmun, WA

Public information

Governance & Board

An agency plan prepared in accordance with the Information Publication Scheme.

School visit information

Learn

All you need to know from COVID-19 and group sizes to cancellations and our Certificate of Currency.

Tejal Shah

by Gitanjali Dang

Artist essays

Born in 1979, Tejal Shah grew up in Chhattisgarh, central India, moving to Bombay in 1995.

Alluring Performance Brings Gallery to Life

5 April 2019

Archived media releases 2019

See the Gallery through a different lens and experience the portraits with a unique sensorial performance of movement, voice and live sound.

Dissections: Layered portraits from the collection is now open

19 August 2016

Archived media releases 2016

Dissections, showcases the hyper-realist sculptural self-portrait of artist Sam Jinks, Divide, alongside the painted portrait of philosopher David Chalmers by Nick Mourtzakis, which was commissioned by the Gallery in 2011.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

Learning resources

Let’s look closely at the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 together! For students and family groups.

Krystal Seigerman

Finalist interviews

The photograph was a brief, candid moment, which unfolded into a portrait. Peter and I were in Silverton, NSW, chatting as our students explored the town. The weak afternoon light suddenly became dramatic and defined, so I asked Peter if I could take his portrait.

Shen Jiawei

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Shen Jiawei was born in China. During the Cultural Revolution he laboured in the Great Northern Wilderness, but even as he worked there, he gained recognition as an artist. 

Simon Harsent

Finalist interviews

I like to think I'm an artist who uses photography as my medium, but I work commercially as a photographer and it's my full time occupation so I guess that defines me as a photographer or maybe a commercial artist?

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

Learning resources

We encourage you to look, to feel, to think, to question and most importantly, to identify and connect.

Entry guidelines 2024

Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize

Read the full requirements for entering the prize.

Eko Nugroho

by Adeline Ooi

Artist essays

Born and raised in Yogyakarta, Eko Nugroho (b. 1977) entered the art scene at the height of Reformasi.

Herra Pahlasari

by Aminudin TH Siregar

Artist essays

At the time of Herra Pahlasari’s birth in 1978, her academic parents were living in Canberra.

Atul Bhalla

by Khavita Singh

Artist essays

Atul Bhalla was born in 1964 in New Delhi. He frequently combines photography, installation, sculpture, video, painting and performance to question the human relationship with the natural and constructed environment.

Exhibition opening speech

General content

Leo Schofield introduces the exhibition, Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores.

Nusra Latif Qureshi

by Hammad Nasar

Artist essays

Nusra Latif Qureshi was born in Pakistan in 1973 and originally trained in the traditional art of Mughal miniature (musaviri) paintings.

FX Harsono

by Christine Clark

Artist essays

FX Harsono was born in 1949, just as the independence of the Indonesian nation was being established.

Our achievements to date

Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023–25

During the period 2018–20, the Gallery implemented our first Access Action Plan.

Faces of war

Lecture, 14 May 2011

General content

Lesley Harding, Curator, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne explores Albert Tucker’s experience of World War II, his interests in the intersection between psychology and creativity, and their influence on his portrait making.

Ken Done

Explore The Popular Pet Show

With a mum who was married to a tradie, you’d think it a fair chance that the baby Jesus would have grown up with a dog in the house.

Alwin Reamillo

by Christine Clark

Artist essays

Alwin Reamillo was born in Manila, Philippines in 1964. He studied painting at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, and began his career as a visual art teacher at the Philippine High School for the Arts.

Foundation Members

Foundation

Chairman Sid Myer AM, Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Penny Fowler AM, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC and Nigel Satterley AM.

Some women you may not know

Alison Alder

‘Everybody’s lives are built by so many influences, and for me, it is writers, artists and activists who have influenced how I think about the world.’

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

General content

Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.

A non-material and non-physical portrait

Lecture, 21 May 2011

General content

Inner Worlds features the recently commissioned portrait of world-renowned philosopher of consciousness David Chalmers by Melbourne-based artist Nick Mourtzakis.

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

General content

Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.

Kristin Headlam

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Basil grew into a speckled beauty – a long-legged leaper and an exceptionally vocal dog, with a great register of sounds, ascending in shock value from a whimper to a growl to a bark to a yelp that’s a violation of the ears.

Nicholas Harding

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Over the years the young Nicholas Harding got his hands on various mice and guinea pigs, but they served mainly to illustrate the concept of mortality. 

The more things change...

NPPP 2017 exhibition essay

General content

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

The Bare story

General content

Curator, Penny Grist, reveals how this exhibition came to be

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

General content

Sarah Engledow looks at three decades of Nicholas Harding's portraiture.