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Yanni Floros

Yanni Floros is an Adelaide based artist who trained at the National Art School in Sydney graduating as a sculpture major. Since then he has shown his work both locally and internationally in Berlin, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Who's Jo?

Find out about the curator of the exhibition.

‘Never break this heart of stone’

Desired by millions

Exhibition overview

MDPA judge Jeff Khan, Artistic Director, Performance Space, Sydney.

Nell

Nell is a multidisciplinary artist based on Gadigal land in the Eora Nation, Sydney. Her work fuses mythological, spiritual and popular cultural iconography.

Deborah Kelly

Deborah Kelly, based between Gadigal Country, Sydney and Jerrinja Country, Currarong, is known for her multi-disciplinary, exuberant and diverse participatory collages and costumes that come to life in workshops and performances.

Artist lovers re-united across the seas

Exile burnishes love’s bond

Maritime disaster leaves poignant picture

Absence rends the heart asunder

From riot to revelry

Pride, protest, panache

Sean Slattery

This is Davide Di Giovanni and he was a principal dancer for the Sydney Dance Company for six or seven years. He got in touch with me to do some video work together and he was just so amazing.

Oz Punk

In 1976, without having been blooded on the Sydney or Melbourne pub circuit, The Saints recorded a single – ‘(I’m) Stranded’ – earning them the distinction of releasing a punk single before The Sex Pistols did.

Linde Ivimey

Born: 1965, Sydney
Works: Sydney

The most material advantages

A one-in-a-thousand woman

CO-AP

Based in Sydney, CO-AP endeavour to realise unique outcomes for each project, achieved through a strong and reliable collaborative process.

A head for business and a heart for love

For love, not money

Designing the modern world

Friendship, education, inspiration

Dr John Janson-Moore

The Zammitt Family is part of a massive series of mine that I've been doing since early 2020, documenting COVID in and around Sydney.

Eileen, 2017

Finalist, DPA 2017
Single channel HD digital video

Petite beauty marries gentle giant

Books, beets and heat

Home is where the heart is

For richer, for poorer

The Freak Show

Many performers availed themselves of the services of photographic studios, posing for carte de visite portraits that served as souvenirs and as instruments in the making of renown and notoriety.       

Jan Nelson

Jan Nelson was born in Melbourne. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1983 and has been exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia since that time including at the MCA, Sydney, National Gallery of Victoria, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane and the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide.

Johnson Pilton Walker

Sydney-based practice Johnson Pilton Walker designed the new National Portrait Gallery building.

Catherine Livingstone, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

2004 Acquisition Fund

Sydney Opera House architect Jørn Utzon was the subject of the 2004 Circle of Friends Acquisition Fund.

New Chief Patron for the National Portrait Gallery

Mrs Lucy Hughes Turnbull AO has accepted an invitation to become the new Chief Patron of the National Portrait Gallery. 

Out of the blocks

Dawn Fraser, Lionel Rose, Shane Gould and Cathy Freeman

Janet Dawson

When soulmates Janet Dawson and Michael Boddy moved from Sydney to a property, Boddy was clear about why: ‘Our marriage is one long conversation - we moved to the bush so we could talk to each other without so many interruptions.’

Go Figure! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture

Exhibited simultaneously at the two locations, Go Figure! is drawn from the Sigg Collection, the largest and most significant collection of contemporary Chinese art anywhere in the world.

Oz Rock

Two of the music industry’s highest-selling performers originated in suburban Australia. The Bee Gees started out in Brisbane, for instance, and AC/DC played their first gigs at a nightclub in inner Sydney.

Andrew Gaze, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Trent Birkett 2018

Gallery unveils Portrait of Mark Ella

Last night in Sydney, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled a newly commissioned portrait of Australian sporting legend Mark Ella AM.

Richard Tognetti #1510, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Peter Weiss AO 2018

Fang Lijun

Born 1963, Handan, Hebei Province China. Lives and works in Beijing.

Unplanned arrival leads to blissful adoration

A mother’s ‘in-loveness’

Committed to the cause and each other

Love versus the law

Australian racing legends and best friends

The mane thing is trust

The artist and the doctor

Art, war, scandal

A very great and stimulating thrill

Just good friends?

Hearts and craft

The long game

Match made in entertainment heaven

When the stars align

Powerful, equal, legal love

Three weddings

All at sea

Tiny token, big love

Wanted: social opposites for like-minded kink

‘Scandalous conduct’

Richard and Pat

Partners in sparkle

Study of Louis Nowra, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AO, John Kaldor AO and Naomi Milgrom AO 2018

2019-20 Acquisition Fund

From 2019 to 2020 the Acquisition Fund was focussed on a large, vibrant portrait of Elena Kats-Chernin by Wendy Sharpe.

stArts with D Performance Ensemble

Based in Mparntwe/Alice Springs and the Central Desert Region, stArts with D disability-led performance ensemble collaborates, creates, and presents original works celebrating identity, place and belonging.

Alluring Performance Brings Gallery to Life

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

The Hinders: doyens of Australian modernism

Progressive partnership

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.

Tony Shaw, 2018

Commissioned with funds from the Patrick Corrigan Portrait Commission Series 2018

Announcing... Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence.

In March 2024, the National Portrait Gallery will launch a major exhibition of the work of Ralph Heimans AM, the Australian artist who’s painted some of the world’s most recognisable people.

Abdul Abdullah

Abdul Abdullah, a multi-disciplinary artist identifying as a Muslim and with both Malay/Indonesian and convict/settler Australian heritage, explores concepts of the ‘other’ in his highly distinctive practice based on Gadigal Country.

Designing the ideal marriage

Deep foundations, shared vision

Norman and Rose: lifelong love

The ravishing muse

Latai Taumoepeau

Latai Taumoepeau, based on Gadigal Country, makes live-art-work drawing her faivā (temporal practice) from her homelands, the Island Kingdom of Tonga, centres Tongan philosophies to make visible the impact of climate crisis in the Pacific.

The 'Multi Exposed Hand'

Photographer Jozef Vissel talks about his ‘Multi Exposed Hand’ portrait of Sydney Opera House architect Jørn Utzon.

Julie Gough

Artist, curator and writer Julie Gough, Trawlwoolway through her maternal family, recover and re-presents unsettling and conflicting histories in Lutruwita/Tasmania, where her traditional homeland is Tebrikunna, in the north-east.

A photographer’s glamorous friends

Community, arts, activism

Yarrenyty Arltere Artists

A not-for-profit Aboriginal owned and run art centre, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists in Mparntwe/Alice Springs are known for their unique and distinctive soft sculptures that reveal stories and experiences of life in their community.

Lifelines

Fiona Stanley, Fiona Wood, Fred Hollows, Patrick McGorry and John Yu

2023 Annual Appeal

In 2023 the Annual Appeal was focussed on a work by one of Australia's best loved and most successful portrait painters, Judy Cassab AO CBE, depicting model, entrepreneur and deportment icon, June Dally-Watkins OAM.

Patricia Piccinini

Patricia Piccinini was born in Sierra Leone and grew up in Canberra. She received a BFA from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 1991. In 1994 she initiated The Basement Project Gallery in Melbourne, which she coordinated until 1996. Her 2003 exhibition We Are Family represented Australia at the 50th Venice Biennale.

Margaret Seares, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck grew up in Melbourne and began a career in puppetry and special-effects based in the US and then London. In the mid-1990s Charles Saatchi commissioned four major works including Dead dad, which were exhibited in Saatchi’s exhibition ‘Sensation’ at the Royal Academy, London and which travelled to Berlin and Brooklyn.

Gail Kelly, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Westpac Group and Optus 2018

Gary Grealy wins National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017

After months of anticipation, the winner for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 has been announced with renowned Sydney portrait photographer Gary Grealy taking out the award. George Fetting, guest judge for the 2017 Prize, was entranced with the evocative nature of the winning portrait Richard Morecroft and Alison Mackay.

TERROIR

TERROIR directors Gerard Reinmuth, Scott Balmforth and Richard Blythe believe that the practice of architecture is the production of knowledge.

Rugby great unveiled

A new portrait commission of Australian Rugby great, Ken Catchpole OAM by Gary Grealy will be officially unveiled on 3 December.

The Waxworks

Waxworks were among the various types of entertainment venue to emerge in Australian cities in the mid-nineteenth century. 

Portrait Gallery unveils new commission

The National Portrait Gallery unveiled its most recent portrait commission for the collection on Thursday 30 November 2017.

Oz Indie

It was the era of recording your favourite songs directly from the radio; of seeing the latest acts and clips on Countdown; and when the Aussie bands you saw on TV and heard in the charts were the ones you could see live at the pub.

Equation of a life – a portrait of Derek Denton

The National Portrait Gallery, has welcomed the newest portrait commission of Emeritus Professor Derek Denton AC by Evert Ploeg.

The 1890s to the 1940s

Although the tough, weathered, hard-drinking bushmen of the kind mythologised by writers like Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson are popularly associated with the character of late nineteenth century Australia, it was also a time when alternative ideas about identity began to come into play.

Yang Na

Born 1983, Chongqing, Sichuan Province. Lives and works in Beijing.

Executive

National Portrait Gallery Director Bree Pickering leads the executive team.

Chinese Art

A short overview of modern Chinese art from 1949 to the present.

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.

Capital Cool

Outsiders tend to give Canberra a bad rap: sterile, plagued by politicians, a comatose capital for professionals and academics. Nick Cave once said he didn’t like the city because there were too many punks.

NPPP 2013 exhibition essay

Joanna Gilmour, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2013 Prize.

Sideshow Alley: Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Bushrangers, oddities, true crime and scandal come together in this modern day cabinet of curiosities.

Matthew Abbott

An interview with the photographer.

Ken Done

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.

Rong Rong

Born Li Zhirong 1968, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province. Lives and works in Beijing.

Wendy Whiteley in conversation with Janet Hawley

Wendy Whiteley in candid conversation with Janet Hawley to celebrate the release of the book Wendy Whiteley and The Secret Garden.

Feather voted the people’s favourite

The National Portrait Gallery is thrilled to announce that the People’s Choice award for this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize goes to Natalie Grono from Byron Bay for her photograph Feather and the Goddess Pool 2014.

Arcadia media information

Press releases and image downloads for media.

Protest!

Rock’s raw potency made it the ideal medium for fomenting protest. The 1970s, 80s and onwards saw calls for social and environmental justice ring out through song.

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2014

Press releases for media.

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.’

Forum participants

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

Twenty new portraits marking Portrait Gallery’s twentieth birthday

To celebrate the National Portrait Gallery’s twentieth anniversary as an institution, twenty portraits of outstanding Australian individuals have been commissioned for the permanent collection. This is the largest undertaking for the Gallery’s commissioning program in its twenty-year existence.

Foundation Members

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.

The Board

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

About the exhibition

Portraits from the Sigg collection, from 1979 to the present including painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation.

Liu Wei

Born 1965 in Beijing. Lives and works in Beijing.

Living Memory – National Photographic Portrait Prize extended to January 2022

In light of recent and ongoing gallery closures brought on by the COVID pandemic, the NPG’s 2021 National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition season will be extended until 16 January next year.

Zhang Xiaogang

Born 1958, Kunming, Yunnan Province. Lives and works in Beijing.

The People’s Choice Awards

The votes have been counted, and the winners of the National Portrait Gallery’s People’s Choice Awards for the Prize exhibitions are...

Paul Kelly and The Portraits media information

Paul Kelly & The Portraits presents a multifaceted image of the performer over the course of his career.

Arcadia: Sound of the sea

One night in the spring of 1970 in an old house in Whale Beach, north of Sydney, John Witzig, Albe Falzon and David Elfick put together the first issue of Tracks, playing Neil Young’s album Harvest over and over again as they pasted up galleys of type.

Anna Meares, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by King & Wood Mallesons 2018

15 minutes of frame

Delve into the lives, loves and labour of the world’s most prominent portrait galleries in this international conversation series.

Exhibition opening speech

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

Noel McKenna

It’s a matter beyond dispute that in the entire history of Australian art, it’s Noel McKenna who’s painted the liveliest rendition of the head of a Chihuahua.

Yu Hong

Born 1966 in Beijing, China. Lives and works in Beijing.

Nicholas Paspaley Jnr, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Ross Adler AC 2018

Welcome home, Captain Bligh

The National Portrait Gallery will, next Tuesday, unveil an exciting new acquisition of irrefutable importance to all Australians. Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform c. 1776, attributed to John Webber, is one of the earliest portraits of the contentious, historical figure, and extends the Gallery’s remarkable collection of early colonial portraits.

Jacki Weaver, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2018

Jude Rae

Jude Rae’s high reputation rests on her austere, cerebral still lifes of gas canisters, electric jugs and jars, which she groups and rearranges for paintings that catch their difficult curves and reflections. Her self-portrait’s likewise thoughtfully composed.

15 minutes of frame

Delve into the lives, loves and labour of the world’s most prominent portrait galleries in this international conversation series.

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

To celebrate the new exhibition Australian Love Stories, renowned Australian glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock has been commissioned to make a large-scale installation reflecting on the role the heart plays as our emotional centre.

L. Gordon Darling AC CMG

The Chairman, Board, Director and all the Staff of the National Portrait Gallery mourn the loss of our Founding Patron, who died peacefully in Melbourne this morning. He was 94.

Awesome Achievers

What makes someone awesome? And how does a portrait tell a person's story? Bring your students up close and personal with some great Australians. For upper primary school students.

Nicholas Harding

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 Writer: Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AO and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018.

Fred Hilmer, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

References

About the exhibition curator Claire Roberts, and writers Eugene Wang and Zhang Letian.

NPPP 2009 exhibition essay

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2009 Prize.

NPPP 2012 exhibition essay

Joanna Gilmour, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2012 Prize.

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.

Anna Culliton

Anna Culliton never had a colouring-in book when she was little. Her parents –Tony, a filmmaker, and Stephanie, a painter – wouldn’t let her have one. Instead, they insisted on her drawing her own pictures to colour-in. 

Andrew Sayers AM FAHA

The Chairman, Board, Director and staff mourn the loss of the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural director.

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.

Some prime ministers

Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.

NPPP 2012 learning resource

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

Reflections

All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War exhibition co-curators Dr Anne Sanders and Dr Christopher Chapman reflect on the evolution of the Gallery’s Anzac Centenary exhibition.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

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

History

How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

Inner Worlds evokes a broad view of psychology as a discipline. However, the specific interests of the practitioners whose portraits are included in the exhibition incorporate specialist areas including psychoanalysis.

The art of Inner Worlds

Dr Christopher Chapman NPG Curator of Inner Worlds explains the development of an exhibition that spans from Surrealism to contemporary art.

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

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

The Bare story

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

Robyn Sweaney

Robyn's parents had two terriers, Wuff and Snuff. In spite of Snuff’s ominous name and a couple of close shaves – once, he jumped out of a moving car, and another time, on a long road trip, he was accidentally left behind at a petrol station – he outlived Wuff.

Uncommon Australians

Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.

Lucy Culliton

Most well-regarded pictures of chickens show them dead. A reliable way to tell if a chicken in a painting is dead is to check if it’s hanging upside down, because unlike, say, cockatoos, chickens don’t practise inversion for enjoyment in life.

Faces of war

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.

Portrait Donors

The more things change...

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

Less than six degrees of separation

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

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