Search / sharon peoples

Unbuttoning uniforms

Sharon Peoples contemplates costumes and the construction of identity.

David Stratton, 2012

Sharon O'Neill, Hellenic Club, Woden, 27 August 1980

Sharon O'Neill, Hellenic Club, Woden, 27 August 1980

Sharon Anyos

Sharon Anyos, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Sharon Atkinson-Firebrace, c. 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Athletes (Sally Robbins, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Caroline Pileggi, Lorian Graham, Sharon Anyos), 2005-2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Men of High Degree: Kev Carmody (Bundjalung/Lama Lama Peoples), 2023

Purchased 2023

Sharon Zwi

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.

Portrait 56

Browse the history of the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Cayce Zavaglia's embroidered portraiture, and modern wedding photography!

Finalist interviews

Interviews with NPPP 2013 finalists Melanie Faith Dove, Simon Harsent, Ahmad Sabra, Sharon Zwi, Katherine Bennett, Krystal Seigerman, Arianne McNaught, Janet Tavener, Louise Whelan, Myles Nelson and Heather Corrigan.

Wik vs Queensland

This landmark feature documentary tracks the lead up to the 1996 High Court decision to grant native title to the Wik Peoples of Cape York, and the demonisation that followed at the hands of politicians and media.

Brenda L Croft and Dr Matilda House

Brenda L Croft (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra peoples) talks with Ngambri/Ngunnawal/Wiradjuri elder, Dr Matilda House, about her photographic portrait.

Dylan Mooney: You say tru gawd

Thea Anamara Perkins: Hey you mob

Kyra Mancktelow: You’re just too deadly

Tony Albert: Aww bless

Reconciliation Week Highlights Tours

Join us in the Gallery this National Reconciliation Week for a 30-minute tour of the collection, as we explore and reflect on the stories of First Nations peoples.

In Conversation

Brenda L Croft (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra peoples) talks with Ngambri/Ngunnawal/Wiradjuri elder, Dr Matilda House, about her photographic portrait.

Portrait 32

This issue features Vanity Fair, Nancy Bird Walton, William Barak, Sidney Kidman, Benjamin Duterrau's portraits of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania, and more.

NPPP 2013 learning resource

Exploring select works from the NPPP 2012. For secondary students.

Justin Shoulder

Portrait 63

Rod McNicol's method and motivation, 19th century Indigenous peoples, Barrie Cassidy on Bob Hawke, five generations of the Kang family from Korea and more.

Mandawuy Yunupingu, NT, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Mandawuy Yunupingu, 1991 (printed 2011)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Russell Crowe, 2001 (printed 2004)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Magda Szubanski, 1997 (printed 2021)

Purchased with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC 2021

The great echo chamber, 2017

Ngambri Woman

The hidden half, 2019

Noni Hazlehurst, 1977 (printed 2011)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Dr B Marika AO

Matilda (Ngambri/Ngunnawal), 2019

blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher I (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra; Mara/Ngarrindjeri/Ritharrngu; Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish) 2021

Dr B Marika AO, 2020

Gift of the artist 2022

Supporters

Dylan Mooney

Dylan Mooney, a proud Yuwi man from Mackay, Queensland, based in Meanjin/Brisbane, works across painting, printmaking, digital illustration and drawing, visually translating stories of resilience, survival, connection and love.

Bonita Mabo, 1994 (printed 2011)

Purchased 2011

M.O. Ranger 3: Preparatory study for 'Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground', 2001

Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Reg Richardson AM, 2014

Purchased with funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2015

Self portrait, 1846

Purchased 1999

Sir Joseph Banks, Bt

Portrait of Captain James Cook RN, 1782

Purchased by the Commonwealth Government with the generous assistance of Robert Oatley AO and John Schaeffer AO 2000

François Péron, c. 1805

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Flash

Introduction The National Portrait Gallery’s photographic exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus explores various interpretations of Australian sporting men and women.

blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher I (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra; Mara/Ngarrindjeri/Ritharrngu; Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish) 2021, 2022 (printed 2023)

Purchased 2023

The Hon Gough Whitlam, Ossie Cruse and Michael Anderson, 1981 (printed 2003)

Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Jack Thompson, 2013

Purchased 2015

Rosalie Kunoth, 1967

Gift of Audrey Cameron in memory of the artist Donald Cameron 2022

The Movie Star (David Gulpilil), 1985

Gift of the artist 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Danger boy

I didn’t ever meet the American artist Chris Burden but about 20 years ago I wrote to him. I was after the loan of some photographic prints of his most famous performance: he had arranged for a friend to fire a bullet so it would graze his arm.

Patrick Dodson, 2004

Gift of the Lingiari Foundation 2015

Trukanini, 1866 (printed 1890s)

Purchased 2011

Marcia Langton, 2013

Purchased 2015

Marcia Langton, 2009

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2009

Home is where the art is

Tedi Bills on how social media in the age of COVID-19 has fanned the flames of our portrait fascination.

NAIDOC Portraits

Celebrate NAIDOC: Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud and First Nations portraiture in these live National Portrait Gallery programs for primary students. Bookings via DART.

Virtual lives

A brief introduction to the Weird, Wired World of Internet Portraiture.

Collection in focus: Brook Andrew

Experience the artistic clout of Brook Andrew’s portraits of Marcia Langton AM and Anthony Mundine.

Ken Wyatt, 2019 (printed 2020)

Purchased 2022

Black and white history

English artist Benjamin Duterrau took up the cause of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania with his detailed and sympathetic renderings.

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster, c. 1780

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family, the Ian Potter Foundation and John Schaeffer AO 2009

Cherish the brethren

Fortunately, perhaps, there is no instruction manual for newly appointed art museum directors.

Mirror With A Memory

This is the first major exhibition to examine photographic portraiture in Australia, from its beginnings in the early 1840s to the present day

Lowitja O'Donoghue, 2006

Commissioned with funds donated by BHP Billiton Limited, Rio Tinto Aboriginal Fund, Newmont Australia Limited, Reconciliation Australia, Hon Paul Keating and Hon Fred Chaney 2006

Expect the unexpected

Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.

Observation point

I have known Dr Aunty Matilda House, Ngambri Elder, Traditional Custodian and Cultural Knowledge Holder, since I was a child.

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

Ready , set... shoot

The exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus offers various interpretations of sporting men and women by five Australian photographers.

Activating the space

Sandra Phillips on portraits of Indigenous activism from Cairns Art Gallery’s 2019 Queen’s Land Blak Portraiture exhibition.

Nicola Dickson

Born: 1959, Southport, QLD
Works: Canberra

A bond of friendship

Australia's major abstract painter Yvonne Audette discusses her portrait of sculptor Robert Kippel.

Australian Visit

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

Australian of the Year

The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.

In the galleries

Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

The exhibition is 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.

All that fall

Raimond Gaita comments on war and truth in the context of the First World War.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020

The exhibition is 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.

To Look Within

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

First Ladies

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

Queen Victoria, 1901

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Uncommon Australians

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Copyright and reproductions

Request a digital copy of an image for publication

The Board

The Board oversees the Gallery's strategic directions, objectives and governance.

Imagination

Dr Sarah Engledow tells the story of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee portrait by Australian artist Ralph Heimans.

So Fine

The National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce its winter exhibition is So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history. It will open to the public from 29 June 2018.

Rethinking foundational histories

A focus on Indigenous-European relationships underpins Facing New Worlds. By Kate Fullagar.

So Fine

Ten women artists explore the possibilities of portraiture as a contemporary art form; and reinterpret and reimagine Australian history in the Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history.

Past present

Krysia Kitch celebrates Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

Sea legged frogs

Joanna Gilmour describes some of the stories of the individuals and incidents that define French exploration of Australia and the Pacific.

Back in black

Krysia Kitch reviews black chronicles at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Illuminating history

Joanna Gilmour reflects on 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.

Us being ourselves

Penelope Grist talks to photographer Benjamin Warlngundu Ellis about capturing moments, telling stories and keeping Culture strong.

The long game

Penelope Grist spends some quality time with the Portrait Gallery’s summer collection exhibition, Eye to Eye.

What price self?

Jane Raffan investigates auction sales of self portraits nationally and internationally.

Public hanging

As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.

Painting mates

Michael Desmond discusses Fred Williams' portraits of friends, artist Clifton Pugh, David Aspden and writer Stephen Murray-Smith, and the stylistic connections between his portraits and landscapes.

To arrive at hope

Penelope Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2020 Prize.

Augustus serendipitous

The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825. 

You are who?

Joanna Gilmour reflects on merging collections and challenging traditional assumptions around portraiture in WHO ARE YOU.

The right note

Marian Anderson’s glorious voice thrust her into stardom, and a more reluctant role as American civil rights pioneer.

Forum participants

Biographies of participants in the Writing lives, revealing lives forum.

Canadian identities

An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.

Missionary positions

Stella Ramage on Father McHardy’s Bougainville portraiture.

Self-effacing

Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.

The art of conciliation

Gareth Knapman explores the politics and opportunism behind the portraits of Tasmania’s Black War.

Some women you may not know

‘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.’

The life of Bryant

Tenille Hands explores a portrait prize gifted to the National Screen and Sound Archive.

The numbers man

Dr. Sarah Engledow tells the story of Australia's first Federal statistician, Sir George Knibbs.

Home and away

Sir William Dobell painted the portraits of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones and Sir Hudson Fysh, who did much to promote the image of Australia in this country and abroad.

The art of multiplicity

Meredith Hughes explores a key Portrait Gallery work, emerging into the infinite iterations of identity.

Sibly irresistible

Alexandra Roginski reveals a forceful feminist figure in the colonial period’s slippery science, phrenology.

First encounters

Representations of the inhabitants of the new world expose the complexities of the colonisers' intentions.