WEBVTT
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Lovely to not quite see everyone today,
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but we're back in trying to do these really fantastic,
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fun programmes for our COVID audiences, so welcome.
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And I'd also like to say big hello
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to our fantastic Auslan interpreters that we've got
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with us today as well.
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We're going to be mindful of, I guess,
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pacing ourselves a little bit,
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and also giving all of you out there watching today,
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the opportunity to take some time to really,
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truly look at the artworks that we'll be exploring.
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But in the first instance,
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I thought I'd kick off and talk a little bit
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about the Darling Portrait Prize.
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This is only the second time that we've run it here
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at the National Portrait Gallery.
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It is a
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painting prize, so it is very much in that strong tradition
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that we know all Australians love
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of exploring how Australia's painters choose
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to represent people that have inspired them
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or people that they find interest in.
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And we had our very first one in 2020.
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With everything that has happened since then,
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it's been really lovely that in 2022,
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we've had the opportunity
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to bring the Darling Portrait Prize back to Canberra.
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Ultimately, I think there were around
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nearly 600 entries this year.
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So our three judges who were Karen Quinlan,
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our Director here at the National Portrait Gallery,
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Dr. Nicholas Cullinan,
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the Director of the National Portrait Gallery of London,
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and Clothilde Bullen,
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the Senior Curator and Head of Indigenous
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at the Art Gallery of Western Australia,
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were the judges for this year's Darling.
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And ultimately, they
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picked 39 paintings
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to bring in for this showing.
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And you can see a bit of a view
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of it there behind Rebecca and I.
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It's a stunning show and we're gonna have a bit
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of fun talking about a handful of those works today.
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Rebecca, why don't you give us a bit of a overview
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of the National Photographic Portrait Prize?
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Yeah, for sure.
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So yeah, the National Photographic Portrait Prize,
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it's a bit of a tradition here
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at the National Portrait Gallery.
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So the 2022 one has been going on for 15 years,
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so this the 15th anniversary of it.
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It's a national open call
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for, yeah,
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for photography portraiture and it's open entry.
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This year, we had an amazing 2,400 entries
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and we had to have the difficult task of narrowing
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that down to 55 finalists,
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and then of course picking the winner.
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There were three judges this year.
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So myself, along with Sandra,
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and then we also had Nick Moore who is the
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Chief Photographer of the "Sydney Morning Harold".
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Yeah, the calibre of works that came through
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were just incredible and I think
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that's why it was such a hard decision
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to really just narrow it down to those 55 finalists.
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But it was a real privilege to be able
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to judge the prize, I think.
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Definitely having the privilege of looking into,
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I guess, the private lives of people.
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Yeah, it was really wonderful.
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Yeah, there's that fantastic photo
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that I think the team have just put up
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of us on that very last day
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of judging.
Yeah.
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It was interesting, wasn't it?
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Because we had to go through this process individually
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of looking at each of the 2,400 odd works digitally
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and we all made our own individual shortlists.
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And then we were all put into a room.
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The door was closed and we weren't allowed out again
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until we--
Until we had a winner.
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And well, until we had a winner,
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but also until we had the exhibition.
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Yeah, of course.
Yeah.
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So it was a lot of fun but I think
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it's a really intensive process
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because it's such a strong field and it can
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be really difficult.
And it's so open as well,
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all the different themes that we get and that come through
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and trying to figure out
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what stories we're telling, I suppose.
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Yeah.
Yeah, that's right.
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What was I going to say?
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Oh yes, that's right.
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So we thought that today we would,
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we can't talk about all of the works in both exhibitions.
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We don't have enough time.
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We could both talk the ears off the camel but...
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(ladies chuckling)
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So what we thought we'd do is do a bit
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of a compare and contrast.
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So for the rest of the hour,
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we're going to bring up a work from the NPPP
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and a work from the Darling and Rebecca and I'll get
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to have a bit of a talk about where there are synergies
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and connections and parallels between the works
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in the two exhibitions.
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So why don't we go to the first set now.
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So in every instance,
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you'll see the NPPP finalist on the left
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and the Darling finalist on the right.
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And so here we have,
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"Jamie Bianca in the Style of Grace Kelly",
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by Tom Evangelidis.
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And we have,
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"Une Femme Amoureuse Self-Portrait as Mireille Mathieu",
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by Yvette Coppersmith.
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Bec, why don't you get us started with the "Jamie Bianca"?
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Yeah, I think a lot of people have seen this
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as it's all over our building as well,
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this beautiful work.
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Yeah, "Jamie Bianca in the Style of Grace Kelly".
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It's a really elegant portrait,
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definitely harking back
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in that classical sort of portraiture,
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as well, black and white and very,
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just very beautiful and elegant.
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But there is within this work,
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I think it's really highlighting self-representation
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and the way that you would want to be perceived.
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And then I guess it has that classical part to it
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where we're looking, I guess,
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into that 1950s style of Hollywood of, again,
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elegance, of beauty,
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of feminine softness that is admired by both genders.
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And I think it's, yeah,
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because, I guess,
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Jamie Bianca and when this photo was taken
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was through a transitional period in their life.
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And then, yeah,
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I guess that real self-representation and pride
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in how you feel and the strength and acceptance of self,
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I think, really comes through in this portrait,
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which I think was what makes it so strong.
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Yeah.
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Oh, sorry.
(ladies chuckling)
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What do you think, Sandra?
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Sorry, we're just reminding ourselves
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that we should just take a moment just to stop
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and look and not feel the need to fill all
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of the spaces with sound.
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So we're just gonna have a moment.
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But yeah, so I think you're right Rebecca.
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It's really interesting, isn't it,
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because
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Bianca, as you say,
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was going through transition
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when Tom took this photo of her.
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And
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for me it does give that agency
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of self-representation and self-identity,
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but it's wrapped up in this glamour of a past era,
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which speaks to,
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I don't know,
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self-possession and strength.
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And all of these wonderful sorts of
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positive ways to present yourself to the public.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Yeah, it's just a classical,
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really strong, beautiful portrait that just,
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it hit all the boxes, I think,
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when we were judging it.
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And I think all of us,
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as soon as we saw that work too when we were judging,
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it instantly made it and we didn't have to question it,
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really, because of all the strength of the work.
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Yeah, that's very true.
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Let's have a look now
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at Yvette Coppersmith's self-portrait from the Darling.
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So, my French,
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I probably massacred it.
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I do apologise to anyone who can speak the language.
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But "Une Femme Amoureuse" by Yvette Coppersmith,
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it's really interesting because Coppersmith's practise
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is very much about her representing herself
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in the style of past eras and past aesthetics.
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And often she will, I guess,
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in a way appropriate another person's identity as a way
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of presenting herself to her audience.
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And so, Mireille Mathieu is a French singer
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who was born in the '40s and she is known for her beautiful
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and perfectly coiffed bowl cut.
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And you can see there too that
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we would tend to think that Yvette has gone into
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that 1960s aesthetic,
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because that was when the singer, Maryelle,
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who was a singer who's recorded something like 1,200 songs,
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that was when she really came into her power
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as an international star coming out of Europe.
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And so again,
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if we talk about it in that context of
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looking back in time to
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embrace yourself as who you are
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and how you want to represent yourself to the people
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who you're in front of,
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I think this Yvette Coppersmith is beautiful.
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And she won the Archibald back in 2018 with another portrait
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where she created herself in the style of George Lambert,
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who is another notable Australian painter.
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Is there anything about this that really grabs you, Rebecca?
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Yeah, I think it's definitely the hair, I think.
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And again, it's that self-representation drawing back
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on period styles and those cultural
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and social influences that, I guess,
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shape us and then how we interpret those
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and present ourselves to the world.
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And I think
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that her practise and doing that
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and that she inserts herself into, yeah,
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into these time periods as a way of representing herself,
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yeah, it's really interesting I think to look at.
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And I like how we can compare and contrast
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with the NPPP entry of,
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yeah, inserting in a period into the now
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and feeling strength in that
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and identifying with that in certain parts and aspects.
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Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
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All right, well look,
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why don't we go to the next set.
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I really like this set.
Yeah, me too.
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I think it was definitely one of my favourites, yeah.
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We've got on the left,
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that's "The Hoodie" by Jacob Nash.
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And on the right is "Gareth" by Harley Manifold.
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Let's go to "The Hoodie" first and we'll just
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have a bit of a look and then we'll start talking about it.
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Yeah, so "The Hoodie" by Jacob Nash.
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And so we've got Beau Dean Riley Smith as the subject here
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and he is a dancer for Bangarra.
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And Jacob Nash is actually the Creative Director
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of Bangarra as well.
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And what's really, I think,
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beautiful about this work is that we've sort
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of got a collision of two worlds.
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We've got
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a dancer, an Aboriginal dancer,
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(indistinct), ready for a performance
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for the Bangarra Dance Theatre.
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But he's backstage and he's in a moment,
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I guess, of transformation
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where he becomes a livened sort of performance.
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But he's also wearing a sports hoodie so he's bringing sort
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of like this real,
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I suppose like contemporary life
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of wearing these sports clothes and everything
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but still in a very traditional spiritual sense
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of being painted up,
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ready to do a cultural performance
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and have the energy of the spirit.
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Yeah, so I think it's just this really lovely bringing
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of two worlds but it also is this sort of private
320
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and public life where we've been invited in,
321
00:12:21.620 --> 00:12:22.520
and Jacob as well,
322
00:12:22.520 --> 00:12:27.133
to be invited in backstage in that moment of transformation.
323
00:12:29.210 --> 00:12:31.820
So yeah, sort of inner worlds and outer worlds
324
00:12:31.820 --> 00:12:34.403
and our public and private spheres, I think.
325
00:12:35.930 --> 00:12:37.523
Yeah, I really like that.
326
00:12:38.930 --> 00:12:42.080
The framing of the work by Nash is very much
327
00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:46.370
around boding Riley and it is very much a portrait
328
00:12:46.370 --> 00:12:50.030
of him but he is completely contextualised by
329
00:12:50.030 --> 00:12:52.430
that beautiful soft focus background
330
00:12:52.430 --> 00:12:55.220
and all of that activity happening as they prep
331
00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:57.042
to go out on stage and all
332
00:12:57.042 --> 00:12:58.220
of that kind of thing.
Yeah, absolutely.
333
00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:00.367
There's, I guess that stillness to it as well
334
00:13:00.367 --> 00:13:03.473
'cause he's just fully captured in that moment.
335
00:13:04.400 --> 00:13:05.233
It's interesting, isn't it,
336
00:13:05.233 --> 00:13:08.420
because you can't see his eyes
337
00:13:08.420 --> 00:13:10.880
because it's got such dramatic shadow,
338
00:13:10.880 --> 00:13:12.440
but you know for a fact
339
00:13:12.440 --> 00:13:15.200
that he's looking right down the lens.
340
00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:16.040
And so there is,
341
00:13:16.040 --> 00:13:17.704
again, that sort of strength
342
00:13:17.704 --> 00:13:20.570
in capture, right.
In the gaze, yeah.
343
00:13:20.570 --> 00:13:21.473
Absolutely.
344
00:13:22.520 --> 00:13:24.080
Now, speaking of backstage,
345
00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:25.430
there's another type of backstage.
346
00:13:25.430 --> 00:13:27.053
If we go to the next slide.
347
00:13:32.330 --> 00:13:35.720
So now we have "Gareth" in his bathtub,
348
00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:40.040
which is definitely a behind-the-scenes view.
349
00:13:40.040 --> 00:13:41.930
And I think this is interesting
350
00:13:41.930 --> 00:13:45.060
because Harley Manifold painted
351
00:13:46.280 --> 00:13:47.150
Gareth.
352
00:13:47.150 --> 00:13:47.983
They know each other.
353
00:13:47.983 --> 00:13:49.850
They both live in the Warrnambool area,
354
00:13:49.850 --> 00:13:52.640
which is in Southwestern Victoria.
355
00:13:52.640 --> 00:13:54.380
And they're both artists.
356
00:13:54.380 --> 00:13:56.240
Gareth is also a painter.
357
00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:59.510
He also does public programmes and education programmes
358
00:13:59.510 --> 00:14:00.830
for his neighbourhood.
359
00:14:00.830 --> 00:14:02.340
And he has a thing about
360
00:14:03.560 --> 00:14:06.050
the comics and comic book characters and superheroes.
361
00:14:06.050 --> 00:14:07.490
And so that that he's got,
362
00:14:07.490 --> 00:14:11.411
that he's wearing in his bathtub is a Batman mask.
363
00:14:11.411 --> 00:14:12.860
(ladies chuckling)
364
00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:13.700
And it's interesting.
365
00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:15.980
This is quite a small painting.
366
00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:19.130
It doesn't take up a lot of room on the wall.
367
00:14:19.130 --> 00:14:22.550
And I think that speaks to the intimacy
368
00:14:22.550 --> 00:14:25.080
of the portrait and also that
369
00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:28.730
while obviously we're allowed
370
00:14:28.730 --> 00:14:30.410
to view Gareth in this environment,
371
00:14:30.410 --> 00:14:31.580
he's not looking at us,
372
00:14:31.580 --> 00:14:34.010
he's not engaging with the audience at all.
373
00:14:34.010 --> 00:14:37.130
So it does very much feel like we're being invited
374
00:14:37.130 --> 00:14:39.920
into this private introspective,
375
00:14:39.920 --> 00:14:42.833
almost self-reflective sort of experience with Gareth.
376
00:14:44.900 --> 00:14:47.390
It is a very intimate work.
377
00:14:47.390 --> 00:14:50.240
Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there,
378
00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:53.220
very much in the gaze as he's looking away
379
00:14:54.290 --> 00:14:56.600
and in an intimate moment of himself.
380
00:14:56.600 --> 00:14:59.570
But also I suppose maybe the removal
381
00:14:59.570 --> 00:15:02.100
of that mask is reflecting something else as well
382
00:15:03.830 --> 00:15:07.910
about himself and maybe how he goes out into the world
383
00:15:07.910 --> 00:15:09.740
and then his private life, again.
384
00:15:09.740 --> 00:15:11.180
Yeah, yeah. That's true.
385
00:15:11.180 --> 00:15:13.400
And I like the last line of the artist's statement
386
00:15:13.400 --> 00:15:16.227
that you can see there on the slide where Harley says,
387
00:15:16.227 --> 00:15:18.260
"Of heroes - I believe Gareth is one,"
388
00:15:18.260 --> 00:15:19.640
which is really lovely.
389
00:15:19.640 --> 00:15:23.600
There's a sort of a sense of cheek about this too,
390
00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:27.050
because of the idea of wearing a superhero mask
391
00:15:27.050 --> 00:15:29.210
while you're in the bathtub.
(ladies chuckling)
392
00:15:29.210 --> 00:15:31.493
Yeah, it's a gorgeous work.
393
00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:35.544
All right, are we ready for our third set?
394
00:15:35.544 --> 00:15:36.770
I think so, yeah.
What do you think?
395
00:15:36.770 --> 00:15:39.050
Yeah, let's jump into it.
396
00:15:39.050 --> 00:15:40.910
Oh, this one's fun.
Yeah.
397
00:15:40.910 --> 00:15:45.260
So very lockdown works in COVID obviously,
398
00:15:45.260 --> 00:15:47.660
considering what's been happening
399
00:15:47.660 --> 00:15:48.650
in the last couple of years.
400
00:15:48.650 --> 00:15:50.868
So we did see a lot of works
401
00:15:50.868 --> 00:15:52.910
that talked about these themes of COVID,
402
00:15:52.910 --> 00:15:55.583
of lockdown, of isolation.
403
00:15:57.020 --> 00:16:00.551
So this first work from the NPPP,
404
00:16:00.551 --> 00:16:03.327
"The final hours of our 14-day home isolation
405
00:16:03.327 --> 00:16:05.627
"during the COVID-19 pandemic."
406
00:16:07.070 --> 00:16:09.191
It's so chaotic, this work.
407
00:16:09.191 --> 00:16:10.106
(Rebecca chuckling)
408
00:16:10.106 --> 00:16:12.140
And I think what's fabulous
409
00:16:12.140 --> 00:16:14.900
about is actually the chaotic nature of it
410
00:16:14.900 --> 00:16:19.010
and this really sense of joy and humour as well
411
00:16:19.010 --> 00:16:20.033
that we see in it.
412
00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:27.680
It has such a sense of unravelling of family environment,
413
00:16:27.680 --> 00:16:32.343
but also the impact of being in isolation with a family,
414
00:16:32.343 --> 00:16:36.020
with a small child and the chaotic nature,
415
00:16:36.020 --> 00:16:38.765
and also not being able to leave the house.
416
00:16:38.765 --> 00:16:40.730
It's still very joyous, though,
417
00:16:40.730 --> 00:16:42.630
because they were able to be together.
418
00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:44.600
And I think this work,
419
00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:46.890
it has all these little funny elements to it
420
00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:50.450
of components, I suppose,
421
00:16:50.450 --> 00:16:54.180
like all of the books and the strewn across
422
00:16:55.430 --> 00:16:58.220
bags on the floor and that he's wearing just his underpants,
423
00:16:58.220 --> 00:17:02.093
I think, really reflects a lot of what many families,
424
00:17:03.470 --> 00:17:05.480
I guess, even within Australia but also globally,
425
00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:09.020
went through and not necessarily needing
426
00:17:09.020 --> 00:17:11.210
to wear pants anymore.
(Rebecca chuckling)
427
00:17:11.210 --> 00:17:12.043
No, well that's true.
428
00:17:12.043 --> 00:17:13.670
All of our meetings are from the waist, up.
429
00:17:13.670 --> 00:17:14.960
Yeah.
(ladies chuckling)
430
00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:16.830
But it's interesting 'cause this is a self-portrait.
431
00:17:16.830 --> 00:17:19.070
Yeah.
I think Clint is the man
432
00:17:19.070 --> 00:17:21.558
who's showing us his legs.
433
00:17:21.558 --> 00:17:23.960
(ladies chuckling)
434
00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:28.550
And yeah, it's interesting because it is a portrait,
435
00:17:28.550 --> 00:17:31.160
but it is also kind of a still life
436
00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:33.950
because it is capturing that chaos and saying,
437
00:17:33.950 --> 00:17:34.783
do you know what,
438
00:17:34.783 --> 00:17:36.140
this is just the way we've had to live our lives
439
00:17:36.140 --> 00:17:37.308
for however long.
440
00:17:37.308 --> 00:17:41.630
Depending on which bit of the country you were in,
441
00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:44.540
your lockdowns either went for a reasonable time
442
00:17:44.540 --> 00:17:46.433
or they just kept on going and going.
443
00:17:47.899 --> 00:17:50.190
I agree, there is that really lovely
444
00:17:51.082 --> 00:17:54.080
dichotomy of, it's almost like they're
445
00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:55.917
at the end of their tether.
446
00:17:55.917 --> 00:17:57.800
But then at the same time,
447
00:17:57.800 --> 00:17:59.090
they're like, do you know what,
448
00:17:59.090 --> 00:18:00.050
but that's fine too.
449
00:18:00.050 --> 00:18:00.883
This is just,
450
00:18:00.883 --> 00:18:01.716
this is life.
This is life.
451
00:18:01.716 --> 00:18:03.200
And we're just gonna own it.
452
00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:04.033
Very much, yeah.
453
00:18:04.033 --> 00:18:05.540
I think it's a very big statement of,
454
00:18:05.540 --> 00:18:09.230
this is the reality and this is life right now, yeah.
455
00:18:09.230 --> 00:18:11.030
He's used the doorway
456
00:18:11.030 --> 00:18:13.220
to their flat as a framing mechanism.
457
00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:14.573
Yeah. Yeah.
458
00:18:15.500 --> 00:18:16.850
I quite like that 'cause it is a very,
459
00:18:16.850 --> 00:18:18.110
it's that private life again,
460
00:18:18.110 --> 00:18:22.250
like we're given opportunity to look into somebody's life
461
00:18:22.250 --> 00:18:24.380
through, I guess,
462
00:18:24.380 --> 00:18:26.333
photographic portraiture in this sense.
463
00:18:29.690 --> 00:18:31.280
Well, that's what portraiture is right,
464
00:18:31.280 --> 00:18:34.160
where we want to learn about the citizen we're invited
465
00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:36.890
in through our relationships between the sitter
466
00:18:36.890 --> 00:18:37.723
and the artist,
467
00:18:37.723 --> 00:18:38.900
but then also the audience.
468
00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:42.860
So I think the framing through the door is,
469
00:18:42.860 --> 00:18:44.030
I think it's quite clever.
470
00:18:44.030 --> 00:18:45.560
Yeah, yeah I agree.
471
00:18:45.560 --> 00:18:47.267
I agree, it is.
472
00:18:47.267 --> 00:18:50.240
And I like that it's basically saying,
473
00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:51.170
do you know what, you can come in.
474
00:18:51.170 --> 00:18:52.010
We're inviting you in.
475
00:18:52.010 --> 00:18:53.150
We don't really care that this is
476
00:18:53.150 --> 00:18:54.350
what the lounge room looks like.
477
00:18:54.350 --> 00:18:55.183
Come on in.
478
00:18:55.183 --> 00:18:59.450
Just join the fun.
(ladies chuckling)
479
00:18:59.450 --> 00:19:03.413
Alright, lets have a look at Glen Morgan's take on COVID.
480
00:19:04.250 --> 00:19:06.860
Now, Glen's work is really interesting.
481
00:19:06.860 --> 00:19:10.640
This is probably the most nontraditional work
482
00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:12.620
that we have in this year's Darling.
483
00:19:12.620 --> 00:19:16.103
Glen tends to work in what's called bas-relief,
484
00:19:17.090 --> 00:19:20.870
which is spelled B-A-S-R-E-L-I-E-F.
485
00:19:20.870 --> 00:19:24.140
And so it's not painting on canvas or anything like that.
486
00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:24.973
He actually
487
00:19:26.150 --> 00:19:27.860
carves into wood
488
00:19:27.860 --> 00:19:32.630
and creates a semi three-dimensional sort of vignette,
489
00:19:32.630 --> 00:19:34.640
and that's how he does his portraiture.
490
00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:38.540
And so this is a small oval work where, again,
491
00:19:38.540 --> 00:19:42.470
Glen has in his self-portrait invited us
492
00:19:42.470 --> 00:19:45.380
into his living space during COVID.
493
00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:49.940
And it's an interesting one because I think his naivety,
494
00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:51.830
his style of art,
495
00:19:51.830 --> 00:19:53.450
which is
496
00:19:53.450 --> 00:19:56.393
fun and irreverent and,
497
00:19:56.393 --> 00:19:57.230
as I say,
498
00:19:57.230 --> 00:20:00.680
quite naive and simplistic, again,
499
00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:04.700
speaks to that chaotic nature of the COVID environment.
500
00:20:04.700 --> 00:20:05.933
Yeah, very much so.
501
00:20:06.980 --> 00:20:08.330
I quite like this work as well.
502
00:20:08.330 --> 00:20:10.263
I think it has that theatrical,
503
00:20:10.263 --> 00:20:12.602
humorous nature to it as well,
504
00:20:12.602 --> 00:20:16.228
and definitely have those vibes of chaos.
505
00:20:16.228 --> 00:20:18.500
(ladies chuckling)
Very much so.
506
00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:19.820
It does, doesn't it.
507
00:20:19.820 --> 00:20:20.653
And
508
00:20:21.530 --> 00:20:25.650
it's interesting because Glen's artist statement talks about
509
00:20:27.590 --> 00:20:30.620
his feelings of frustration with "Bloody COVID-19",
510
00:20:30.620 --> 00:20:31.880
and his visual appearance.
511
00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:35.340
And isn't that interesting for an artist to talk about
512
00:20:38.030 --> 00:20:41.417
noting how he presents himself in COVID
513
00:20:41.417 --> 00:20:43.700
and it kind of goes back to Clint wearing his undies
514
00:20:43.700 --> 00:20:46.070
because you only saw everybody from the waist, up,
515
00:20:46.070 --> 00:20:47.210
for a couple of years.
516
00:20:47.210 --> 00:20:48.043
But
517
00:20:49.010 --> 00:20:49.860
I think that
518
00:20:51.080 --> 00:20:52.580
the incorporation of text
519
00:20:52.580 --> 00:20:55.790
into Glen's work is really interesting as well,
520
00:20:55.790 --> 00:20:57.950
because he's basically
521
00:20:57.950 --> 00:21:00.744
having a conversation,
522
00:21:00.744 --> 00:21:04.550
a literal conversation with the viewer or the audience.
523
00:21:04.550 --> 00:21:07.703
He's not asking you to guess anything about his work.
524
00:21:07.703 --> 00:21:09.590
Yes, it's very clear.
It's all out there.
525
00:21:09.590 --> 00:21:11.129
Yeah. Yeah.
526
00:21:11.129 --> 00:21:14.093
(ladies chuckling)
527
00:21:14.093 --> 00:21:15.893
Should we jump to the next one?
528
00:21:17.255 --> 00:21:18.505
Yeah, do you know what,
529
00:21:20.840 --> 00:21:21.673
I think we will.
530
00:21:21.673 --> 00:21:22.873
Yeah, let's go to the next set.
531
00:21:22.873 --> 00:21:25.730
These are great if we wanna talk about strength of gaze.
532
00:21:25.730 --> 00:21:27.500
Yeah, and stance and power.
533
00:21:27.500 --> 00:21:28.333
Yep.
534
00:21:30.860 --> 00:21:34.940
We have "Emily and Effi" by Bec Lorrimer from the NPPP.
535
00:21:34.940 --> 00:21:39.020
And then we have "Lucinda, Tram Driver" by Avraham Vofsi
536
00:21:39.020 --> 00:21:39.920
from the Darling.
537
00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.980
So let's tackle "Emily and Effi" first.
538
00:21:42.980 --> 00:21:47.980
Yeah, "Emily and Effi" are such a strong work
539
00:21:48.230 --> 00:21:49.760
and it's very much about the gaze
540
00:21:49.760 --> 00:21:51.160
and the stance and the power
541
00:21:52.511 --> 00:21:54.263
of who you are, I guess.
542
00:21:55.550 --> 00:21:58.340
They're very strong people.
543
00:21:58.340 --> 00:22:01.730
And I remember when I first saw this work,
544
00:22:01.730 --> 00:22:02.690
I instantly was like,
545
00:22:02.690 --> 00:22:04.932
oh, they're so cool and they're so powerful.
546
00:22:04.932 --> 00:22:06.474
(ladies chuckling)
547
00:22:06.474 --> 00:22:09.170
But yeah, definitely the gaze is so strong,
548
00:22:09.170 --> 00:22:12.443
which is, they're directly looking back at us.
549
00:22:13.560 --> 00:22:17.660
And also, I think the way that they're a bit higher than us
550
00:22:17.660 --> 00:22:19.130
and they're looking down a bit on us,
551
00:22:19.130 --> 00:22:20.720
so there is that power,
552
00:22:23.420 --> 00:22:26.093
yeah, through stance and not just through looking.
553
00:22:27.950 --> 00:22:29.540
And then I think compositionally,
554
00:22:29.540 --> 00:22:31.490
this is a really great work.
555
00:22:31.490 --> 00:22:34.157
I loved how the background sort of fades away a little bit.
556
00:22:34.157 --> 00:22:36.500
I love the,
557
00:22:36.500 --> 00:22:39.020
I guess, the lines of that corrugated and also
558
00:22:39.020 --> 00:22:42.530
their choice of very plain clothes.
559
00:22:42.530 --> 00:22:46.910
And it's just a really big, great work.
560
00:22:46.910 --> 00:22:50.900
But I think coming back about the artist's statement
561
00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:54.923
in this and why these two girls were captured.
562
00:22:57.170 --> 00:23:00.320
I like the idea of being reconnecting with your environment
563
00:23:00.320 --> 00:23:03.533
and people around you as the result of COVID.
564
00:23:05.180 --> 00:23:08.450
Like there was sort of this reconnection
565
00:23:08.450 --> 00:23:12.290
and appreciation for just the everyday person.
566
00:23:12.290 --> 00:23:13.730
And I think you can sort of see that
567
00:23:13.730 --> 00:23:16.030
in the Darling work as well,
568
00:23:16.030 --> 00:23:19.070
in that, it's the tram driver and the appreciation of,
569
00:23:19.070 --> 00:23:21.980
I guess, people doing everyday jobs
570
00:23:21.980 --> 00:23:23.920
that keep us all working in a way.
571
00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:25.700
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
572
00:23:25.700 --> 00:23:26.533
It's interesting, isn't it,
573
00:23:26.533 --> 00:23:28.340
because with "Emily and Effi",
574
00:23:28.340 --> 00:23:30.770
Bec talks about going out into the neighbourhood
575
00:23:30.770 --> 00:23:35.000
and creating, strengthening bonds with her local community
576
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:37.160
and just meeting strangers,
577
00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:39.890
and this is one of the best outcomes, I suppose,
578
00:23:39.890 --> 00:23:41.750
of the COVID and having to work,
579
00:23:41.750 --> 00:23:43.490
live within our bubbles and that kind of thing.
580
00:23:43.490 --> 00:23:46.400
And so there's a strong possibility she never
581
00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:48.327
would've shot these two young women,
582
00:23:48.327 --> 00:23:51.709
"Emily and Effi" if it wasn't for COVID.
583
00:23:51.709 --> 00:23:55.070
But one of the things I really about it is
584
00:23:55.070 --> 00:23:57.080
that it is quite informal.
Yeah.
585
00:23:57.080 --> 00:23:57.950
It looks like they're probably
586
00:23:57.950 --> 00:23:59.450
in their backyard or whatever.
587
00:24:02.130 --> 00:24:04.730
They're very self-assured women
588
00:24:04.730 --> 00:24:07.430
but it almost feels like they were just caught
589
00:24:07.430 --> 00:24:09.800
in a moment in time while they were having a chat
590
00:24:09.800 --> 00:24:10.970
or something like that.
A very candid
591
00:24:10.970 --> 00:24:13.010
passing moment, yeah.
So it's interesting
592
00:24:13.010 --> 00:24:16.453
to see how portraiture can be so successful,
593
00:24:16.453 --> 00:24:19.190
even though on its surface it could
594
00:24:19.190 --> 00:24:20.750
be considered quite informal.
595
00:24:20.750 --> 00:24:22.130
Absolutely.
We don't know,
596
00:24:22.130 --> 00:24:24.620
Bec could've taken quite the time setting this shot.
597
00:24:24.620 --> 00:24:25.970
I think the orientation,
598
00:24:25.970 --> 00:24:26.803
as you say,
599
00:24:26.803 --> 00:24:29.990
of the camera shooting from quite low is probably
600
00:24:29.990 --> 00:24:31.080
an indication that
601
00:24:32.540 --> 00:24:34.550
the photographer did put a lot
602
00:24:34.550 --> 00:24:37.130
of thought into this work.
Yeah. Yeah.
603
00:24:37.130 --> 00:24:38.813
No, definitely. Yeah.
604
00:24:39.830 --> 00:24:41.480
All right, let's have a look at "Lucinda".
605
00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:43.370
I love this work.
606
00:24:43.370 --> 00:24:45.120
It's another direct gaze, isn't it?
607
00:24:46.670 --> 00:24:48.470
She's looking right at us
608
00:24:48.470 --> 00:24:50.240
and it seems like she might be on a bit of a break
609
00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:51.073
or something like that.
610
00:24:51.073 --> 00:24:53.540
But she's in her tram driver uniform,
611
00:24:53.540 --> 00:24:56.780
so a Melbourne resident.
612
00:24:56.780 --> 00:25:00.473
I think it's really interesting because it's a strong gaze,
613
00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:03.620
but it's quite a gentle,
614
00:25:03.620 --> 00:25:05.480
soft gaze.
615
00:25:05.480 --> 00:25:09.323
Like there's nothing confrontational in it at all.
616
00:25:10.700 --> 00:25:13.220
It's very much about
617
00:25:13.220 --> 00:25:16.280
almost spending a quiet moment with "Lucinda".
618
00:25:16.280 --> 00:25:17.150
Yeah, absolutely.
619
00:25:17.150 --> 00:25:18.350
I think, yeah,
620
00:25:18.350 --> 00:25:20.270
the gazing both works.
621
00:25:20.270 --> 00:25:21.103
It's very
622
00:25:22.070 --> 00:25:23.510
prominent, but again,
623
00:25:23.510 --> 00:25:24.830
the two different types of gaze,
624
00:25:24.830 --> 00:25:27.533
the soft gaze and then I suppose that very powerful,
625
00:25:28.490 --> 00:25:29.630
self-assured gaze.
626
00:25:29.630 --> 00:25:30.500
But, I mean,
627
00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:32.480
Lucinda also looks very self-assured.
628
00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:34.433
She knows who she is as well,
629
00:25:35.300 --> 00:25:36.740
but it's just the softness to it.
630
00:25:36.740 --> 00:25:37.573
Yeah. Yeah.
631
00:25:37.573 --> 00:25:39.260
Possibly, "Emily and Effi",
632
00:25:39.260 --> 00:25:40.110
there's a bit of fierce in there.
633
00:25:40.110 --> 00:25:41.830
Yeah.
(ladies chuckling)
634
00:25:41.830 --> 00:25:45.140
But yeah, I think the tonal range
635
00:25:45.140 --> 00:25:46.520
that a Avraham has captured
636
00:25:46.520 --> 00:25:49.001
in this portrait particularly speak to me.
637
00:25:49.001 --> 00:25:51.680
It's a lot of mid tone.
Yeah.
638
00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:54.500
But that softness of the lavender palette
639
00:25:54.500 --> 00:25:55.970
through the sky.
Through the sky, yeah.
640
00:25:55.970 --> 00:25:58.868
And how that relates to the green tonalities
641
00:25:58.868 --> 00:26:02.180
of Lucinda's scarf and her uniform.
642
00:26:02.180 --> 00:26:03.740
It's just a really beautiful,
643
00:26:03.740 --> 00:26:06.680
there's a delicacy to the work even though it's quite
644
00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:08.480
an expressionist painting style.
645
00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:10.026
Absolutely, yeah,
646
00:26:10.026 --> 00:26:11.900
I think you nailed it up there actually.
647
00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:14.200
It's the softness and the painterlyness of it.
648
00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:16.430
It's just, it's very beautiful.
649
00:26:16.430 --> 00:26:18.113
It's just a beautiful portrait.
650
00:26:18.950 --> 00:26:19.783
And it's interesting,
651
00:26:19.783 --> 00:26:23.090
'cause I think I've just realised that with the works
652
00:26:23.090 --> 00:26:24.499
that you picked from the NPPP
653
00:26:24.499 --> 00:26:25.940
and the work that I pick from the Darling,
654
00:26:25.940 --> 00:26:28.490
I think you've gone for fairly large photographs.
655
00:26:28.490 --> 00:26:31.700
And I think I've almost entirely,
656
00:26:31.700 --> 00:26:33.187
or up until now gone for very small,
657
00:26:33.187 --> 00:26:34.691
quite small paintings.
658
00:26:34.691 --> 00:26:36.050
(ladies chuckling)
659
00:26:36.050 --> 00:26:37.040
But it's interesting,
660
00:26:37.040 --> 00:26:38.750
isn't it, how the scale...
661
00:26:38.750 --> 00:26:41.180
Again, "Lucinda" isn't a very large painting,
662
00:26:41.180 --> 00:26:43.220
but she really holds her own on the wall.
663
00:26:43.220 --> 00:26:45.410
She has such presence.
664
00:26:45.410 --> 00:26:46.970
And I hope that as many of you can come
665
00:26:46.970 --> 00:26:50.450
to Canberra as possible to see it because she really does,
666
00:26:50.450 --> 00:26:51.590
as they all do,
667
00:26:51.590 --> 00:26:53.420
just draw you right in when you're able
668
00:26:53.420 --> 00:26:54.830
to be in the room with them.
669
00:26:54.830 --> 00:26:56.003
Yeah. Yeah.
670
00:26:57.140 --> 00:26:58.460
It's interesting, 'cause a Avraham
671
00:26:58.460 --> 00:27:00.233
in his artist statement here,
672
00:27:01.340 --> 00:27:03.140
he does absolutely reference
673
00:27:03.140 --> 00:27:04.880
what you mentioned a little while ago back
674
00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:09.880
that this is very much about lifting up and celebrating
675
00:27:10.130 --> 00:27:15.130
and saying thank you and acknowledging our essential workers
676
00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:18.290
in the community during this COVID period.
677
00:27:18.290 --> 00:27:21.030
But I think just like so many of
678
00:27:21.934 --> 00:27:24.533
a lot of other works that we've been talking about,
679
00:27:25.850 --> 00:27:27.560
this portrait of "Lucinda",
680
00:27:27.560 --> 00:27:29.180
that portrait of "Emily and Effi",
681
00:27:29.180 --> 00:27:30.800
they could've been captured at any point.
682
00:27:30.800 --> 00:27:32.210
You don't necessarily know
683
00:27:32.210 --> 00:27:35.120
that it's in the COVID environment until the artist tells us
684
00:27:35.120 --> 00:27:37.970
that that's how these works came about.
685
00:27:37.970 --> 00:27:40.910
And I quite like that because I think, for me,
686
00:27:40.910 --> 00:27:44.360
that is a signifier that we might be moving out of
687
00:27:44.360 --> 00:27:48.560
that complete overwhelming reactionary idea
688
00:27:48.560 --> 00:27:52.010
that COVID overlays everything we do.
689
00:27:52.010 --> 00:27:54.140
And we're coming out of that and it's still very much a part
690
00:27:54.140 --> 00:27:57.620
of our lives but our lives are more than that.
691
00:27:57.620 --> 00:27:58.607
Yeah. Yeah.
692
00:27:58.607 --> 00:28:00.200
And a movement forward, I suppose,
693
00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:03.920
another chapter, the next chapter of what's happening.
694
00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:05.420
We say as we talk to you digitally
695
00:28:05.420 --> 00:28:07.215
because we couldn't have got you into the building.
696
00:28:07.215 --> 00:28:09.808
(ladies chuckling)
Anyway.
697
00:28:09.808 --> 00:28:12.230
Okay, let's go to the next set.
698
00:28:12.230 --> 00:28:16.100
We've got "Lunch at Fran's" by Abigail Varney.
699
00:28:16.100 --> 00:28:20.510
And we've got "Behind Closed Doors" by Renata Pari-Lewis.
700
00:28:20.510 --> 00:28:22.340
And I think one thing you and I both mentioned
701
00:28:22.340 --> 00:28:23.847
was the photograph,
702
00:28:23.847 --> 00:28:26.120
"Lunch at Fran's" looks quite painterly in this context.
703
00:28:26.120 --> 00:28:27.863
It does, yes. Very much so.
704
00:28:30.650 --> 00:28:32.780
I like this portrait.
705
00:28:32.780 --> 00:28:35.030
I think it's, because it,
706
00:28:35.030 --> 00:28:37.250
the environment becomes the portrait as well.
707
00:28:37.250 --> 00:28:40.613
It's not so much about necessarily the likeness of Fran.
708
00:28:41.990 --> 00:28:45.500
It's about the environment and then being, I guess,
709
00:28:45.500 --> 00:28:47.930
as I was talking about earlier about being invited
710
00:28:47.930 --> 00:28:49.583
into the private lives of people.
711
00:28:50.690 --> 00:28:53.540
There's quite a stillness in this work.
712
00:28:53.540 --> 00:28:55.490
It feels like time has stopped a little bit
713
00:28:55.490 --> 00:28:56.323
when we look at it.
714
00:28:56.323 --> 00:28:59.840
And I guess that there's that idea of a still life as well
715
00:28:59.840 --> 00:29:02.783
and that painterly notion of it.
716
00:29:04.940 --> 00:29:07.670
And I think even just of the previous works
717
00:29:07.670 --> 00:29:10.100
that we were just talking about in that,
718
00:29:10.100 --> 00:29:13.370
you know, like going past COVID era and that life goes on,
719
00:29:13.370 --> 00:29:16.310
this I think really goes into it as well
720
00:29:16.310 --> 00:29:18.800
that our lives do go on.
721
00:29:18.800 --> 00:29:22.490
We have circumstances and events and experiences
722
00:29:22.490 --> 00:29:23.990
that happen to us,
723
00:29:23.990 --> 00:29:27.260
but it doesn't mean that life just stops there and then.
724
00:29:27.260 --> 00:29:29.003
It's just the next chapter,
725
00:29:30.230 --> 00:29:32.420
which is very much, I suppose,
726
00:29:32.420 --> 00:29:37.420
in Fran's life now and the changes of her life.
727
00:29:37.640 --> 00:29:38.630
But what's great, I think,
728
00:29:38.630 --> 00:29:41.870
also about this work is the composition of it.
729
00:29:41.870 --> 00:29:43.190
It's very balanced.
730
00:29:43.190 --> 00:29:44.023
Fran's in the middle,
731
00:29:44.023 --> 00:29:45.800
but there's all of these other elements
732
00:29:45.800 --> 00:29:48.530
and objects around her that make up very much
733
00:29:48.530 --> 00:29:49.730
of that portrait as well.
734
00:29:49.730 --> 00:29:51.620
It's not just Fran,
735
00:29:51.620 --> 00:29:55.130
it's it's Fran's environment too.
736
00:29:55.130 --> 00:29:56.720
Yeah, so I think the photographer said
737
00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:59.300
that Fran's husband passed away
738
00:29:59.300 --> 00:30:00.337
not too long ago.
Yeah.
739
00:30:00.337 --> 00:30:01.820
And there's a little bit of symbolism
740
00:30:01.820 --> 00:30:04.617
in the composition there with the empty chair
741
00:30:04.617 --> 00:30:06.173
in the foreground.
742
00:30:07.190 --> 00:30:08.370
And the fact that
743
00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:14.330
Varney, the photographer has created it in a way
744
00:30:14.330 --> 00:30:16.880
and it's pulled the frame so far back
745
00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:19.610
to make it really clear that there's more than enough room
746
00:30:19.610 --> 00:30:22.550
in that space than for just Fran.
747
00:30:22.550 --> 00:30:24.620
And so I think it's an interesting way
748
00:30:24.620 --> 00:30:28.250
to use the composition to speak to the fact that,
749
00:30:28.250 --> 00:30:29.356
Fran, as a person,
750
00:30:29.356 --> 00:30:33.500
capturing a portrait of Fran talks about the fact
751
00:30:33.500 --> 00:30:35.720
that her circumstances have changed
752
00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:39.687
and she now inhabits this space,
753
00:30:39.687 --> 00:30:41.780
I guess, by herself.
754
00:30:41.780 --> 00:30:42.613
It's interesting, isn't it,
755
00:30:42.613 --> 00:30:44.700
'cause you can get quite emotional about these things.
756
00:30:44.700 --> 00:30:46.550
Yeah.
But I don't necessarily
757
00:30:46.550 --> 00:30:48.410
think this is a particularly sad
758
00:30:48.410 --> 00:30:49.790
No.
Portrait either.
759
00:30:49.790 --> 00:30:51.350
I agree with you, yeah.
760
00:30:51.350 --> 00:30:52.610
There's a sense of peace to it maybe.
761
00:30:52.610 --> 00:30:54.860
Yeah, and I think that's what I mean by this idea
762
00:30:54.860 --> 00:30:58.793
of stillness and reflection but not necessarily,
763
00:30:59.990 --> 00:31:01.327
like emotions aren't bad.
764
00:31:01.327 --> 00:31:05.480
They're not inherently bad and these chapters,
765
00:31:05.480 --> 00:31:06.313
they move on.
766
00:31:06.313 --> 00:31:07.146
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
767
00:31:07.146 --> 00:31:08.670
That's exactly right.
768
00:31:08.670 --> 00:31:10.820
Yeah, I really like this work.
769
00:31:10.820 --> 00:31:13.072
And I like that it revolves around food.
770
00:31:13.072 --> 00:31:14.173
(ladies chuckling)
771
00:31:14.173 --> 00:31:16.883
And Varney, the photographer mentions that,
772
00:31:18.077 --> 00:31:19.700
it is "Lunch at Fran's",
773
00:31:19.700 --> 00:31:22.190
but she talks about the fact that it's
774
00:31:22.190 --> 00:31:24.380
about Fran handing out the bread that she made
775
00:31:24.380 --> 00:31:25.903
that morning and all of that kind of thing.
776
00:31:27.290 --> 00:31:29.270
It's funny how we can get hints about
777
00:31:29.270 --> 00:31:32.300
who Fran is not just from this portrait where,
778
00:31:32.300 --> 00:31:34.520
again, she's in silhouette,
779
00:31:34.520 --> 00:31:36.085
we can't really see her face.
780
00:31:36.085 --> 00:31:39.020
But we do get a sense of who she is from her environment,
781
00:31:39.020 --> 00:31:41.090
but also from the little snippets
782
00:31:41.090 --> 00:31:43.370
that the photographer gives us in the artist statement.
783
00:31:43.370 --> 00:31:44.203
Absolutely.
784
00:31:45.350 --> 00:31:49.370
All right, let's go to the next one from the Darling,
785
00:31:49.370 --> 00:31:52.793
which is "Behind Closed Doors" by Renata Peri-Lewis.
786
00:31:55.670 --> 00:31:57.230
This is really interesting,
787
00:31:57.230 --> 00:32:00.650
I think, as a portrait because much like the one of Fran,
788
00:32:00.650 --> 00:32:04.550
it is absolutely using the environment as a mechanism
789
00:32:04.550 --> 00:32:07.073
to help us understand the sitter, the subject.
790
00:32:08.900 --> 00:32:11.870
Jess Hill, as you can see there in the artist statement,
791
00:32:11.870 --> 00:32:13.940
is an investigative journalist.
792
00:32:13.940 --> 00:32:16.210
And she has
793
00:32:16.210 --> 00:32:20.210
most recently in her career tackled some really intense
794
00:32:20.210 --> 00:32:23.483
subjects around domestic and family abuse.
795
00:32:25.490 --> 00:32:29.900
I think for Renata to decide to represent Jess
796
00:32:29.900 --> 00:32:32.930
in this sort of space where it is an
797
00:32:32.930 --> 00:32:35.630
intimate domestic space,
798
00:32:35.630 --> 00:32:38.180
I think she looks like she's sitting on the end of her bed.
799
00:32:38.180 --> 00:32:39.620
Yeah.
800
00:32:39.620 --> 00:32:41.780
It's not pulling any punches
801
00:32:41.780 --> 00:32:44.390
when she's talking about the contribution,
802
00:32:44.390 --> 00:32:46.190
the reason why she's painting Jess
803
00:32:46.190 --> 00:32:48.440
and the fact that the artist, Renata,
804
00:32:48.440 --> 00:32:50.040
wants to speak to
805
00:32:52.130 --> 00:32:54.260
the things that Jess is doing
806
00:32:54.260 --> 00:32:56.513
in her work and for her community,
807
00:32:57.740 --> 00:32:59.740
through the composition of the portrait.
808
00:33:01.940 --> 00:33:04.070
The colours are interesting too.
809
00:33:04.070 --> 00:33:07.400
I think they hark back probably to early expressionism.
810
00:33:07.400 --> 00:33:10.730
A bit of fauvist colour palette there
811
00:33:10.730 --> 00:33:13.010
with the orange and the deep blues and greens.
812
00:33:13.010 --> 00:33:14.495
Yeah.
But,
813
00:33:14.495 --> 00:33:16.590
again, we can't really see
814
00:33:18.110 --> 00:33:18.980
Jess.
815
00:33:18.980 --> 00:33:20.630
If we walk past her on the street,
816
00:33:20.630 --> 00:33:21.620
we wouldn't necessarily
817
00:33:21.620 --> 00:33:22.970
recognise her.
Recognise, yeah.
818
00:33:22.970 --> 00:33:25.040
From this portrait but I don't think it matters,
819
00:33:25.040 --> 00:33:26.420
to be perfectly honest.
820
00:33:26.420 --> 00:33:27.290
Because as I say,
821
00:33:27.290 --> 00:33:29.330
I think this is the sort of portrait that speaks
822
00:33:29.330 --> 00:33:31.460
to the actions of the person rather
823
00:33:31.460 --> 00:33:34.310
than the representation of a person.
824
00:33:34.310 --> 00:33:38.150
And I was so pleased to see that the judges had selected it
825
00:33:38.150 --> 00:33:40.727
for the exhibition because I think it is a very strong work.
826
00:33:40.727 --> 00:33:41.810
And I will mention,
827
00:33:41.810 --> 00:33:43.375
it's nowhere near as small as the other one,
828
00:33:43.375 --> 00:33:44.270
(Rebecca chuckling)
but so far,
829
00:33:44.270 --> 00:33:46.340
it takes up quite a bit of space.
830
00:33:46.340 --> 00:33:48.000
It's got a lot of presence.
831
00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:48.980
Yeah. Yeah.
832
00:33:48.980 --> 00:33:50.360
No, I like this work too.
833
00:33:50.360 --> 00:33:53.570
And again, it's the actions and environments
834
00:33:53.570 --> 00:33:54.833
that make this portrait.
835
00:33:55.670 --> 00:33:58.850
And I like the tonal palette of it
836
00:33:58.850 --> 00:34:01.343
and the painted effect of it.
837
00:34:02.780 --> 00:34:05.390
Yeah, I think it's a lovely work.
838
00:34:05.390 --> 00:34:06.223
It's interesting, isn't it,
839
00:34:06.223 --> 00:34:09.590
'cause it has that same sort of sense of introspection
840
00:34:09.590 --> 00:34:11.870
that "Gareth" and his bathtub did, I suppose.
841
00:34:11.870 --> 00:34:13.700
With the side view as well.
842
00:34:13.700 --> 00:34:15.113
Yeah, not looking at us.
843
00:34:16.040 --> 00:34:17.645
The posture too, probably.
844
00:34:17.645 --> 00:34:19.283
It's a very private moment.
845
00:34:22.010 --> 00:34:24.740
All right, now I think we're coming into our final set
846
00:34:24.740 --> 00:34:28.070
but the exciting thing is we decided to go
847
00:34:28.070 --> 00:34:30.440
with the winners of the prizes 'cause we thought we
848
00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:33.620
have to talk about the works that the judges decided
849
00:34:33.620 --> 00:34:37.430
were the standouts for these prizes this year.
850
00:34:37.430 --> 00:34:40.280
So we've got "Silent Strength" by Wayne Quilliam
851
00:34:40.280 --> 00:34:41.690
on the left from the NPPP.
852
00:34:42.650 --> 00:34:45.050
And we've got Jaq Grantford's self-portrait
853
00:34:45.050 --> 00:34:46.910
which she's called "2020".
854
00:34:46.910 --> 00:34:47.743
Don't get confused,
855
00:34:47.743 --> 00:34:51.003
she painted it in 2021 and it's currently 2022.
856
00:34:51.003 --> 00:34:53.030
(ladies chuckling)
857
00:34:53.030 --> 00:34:56.540
We've noticed some aesthetic connections
858
00:34:56.540 --> 00:34:58.250
and similarities between these works now that we've
859
00:34:58.250 --> 00:34:59.690
got them side-by-side.
Absolutely.
860
00:34:59.690 --> 00:35:01.220
But we might talk about that in a little bit.
861
00:35:01.220 --> 00:35:04.970
Do you wanna start by tackling this amazing work by Wayne?
862
00:35:04.970 --> 00:35:08.720
Yeah, so "Silent Strength" by Wayne Quilliam.
863
00:35:08.720 --> 00:35:09.938
So this was the
864
00:35:09.938 --> 00:35:14.938
2022 National Photographic Portrait Prize winner,
865
00:35:17.030 --> 00:35:19.823
and the work is so incredibly strong.
866
00:35:20.750 --> 00:35:23.900
It has such presence as well when you see it in real life.
867
00:35:23.900 --> 00:35:25.073
It's quite large.
868
00:35:26.390 --> 00:35:27.740
And
869
00:35:27.740 --> 00:35:29.450
Eric Yunkaporta,
870
00:35:29.450 --> 00:35:30.983
the subject, the sitter,
871
00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:34.130
his gaze is so strong
872
00:35:34.130 --> 00:35:37.430
and powerful looking back at you.
873
00:35:37.430 --> 00:35:39.560
There's such a sense of, I suppose,
874
00:35:39.560 --> 00:35:43.610
masculinity, but also vulnerability that I feel
875
00:35:43.610 --> 00:35:45.023
when I look at this work.
876
00:35:46.340 --> 00:35:47.280
And also, I think
877
00:35:48.350 --> 00:35:51.080
Wayne Quilliam is a First Nations man,
878
00:35:51.080 --> 00:35:54.740
photographer, and then Eric is also a First Nations man
879
00:35:54.740 --> 00:35:57.110
from Aurukun up in Far North Queensland.
880
00:35:57.110 --> 00:36:00.560
And I think the power for me in this as well is
881
00:36:00.560 --> 00:36:04.313
First Nations people photographing First Nations sitters.
882
00:36:06.110 --> 00:36:07.200
There's such a
883
00:36:08.330 --> 00:36:11.480
connection to culture in both past,
884
00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:12.500
present and future.
885
00:36:12.500 --> 00:36:16.583
It's really dynamic and it's shown through this work.
886
00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:20.870
There's cultural pride and also cultural autonomy
887
00:36:20.870 --> 00:36:22.880
that I think definitely comes through.
888
00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:26.870
There's representation, and in an honest form too.
889
00:36:26.870 --> 00:36:27.703
And as I say,
890
00:36:27.703 --> 00:36:30.860
when I say First Nations people taking photos
891
00:36:30.860 --> 00:36:32.480
of other First Nations people,
892
00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:34.413
it starts challenging, I suppose,
893
00:36:34.413 --> 00:36:36.860
ethnographic photography, but also,
894
00:36:36.860 --> 00:36:41.180
I think, social documentary of people and communities
895
00:36:41.180 --> 00:36:45.263
that we have a history of doing within Australia and abroad.
896
00:36:46.430 --> 00:36:47.420
So I think for me,
897
00:36:47.420 --> 00:36:49.700
this is one of the biggest reasons.
898
00:36:49.700 --> 00:36:52.130
Not only is it a stunning portrait
899
00:36:52.130 --> 00:36:54.500
and the strength through composition,
900
00:36:54.500 --> 00:36:57.860
through technique and all of these other things,
901
00:36:57.860 --> 00:36:59.333
but it really,
902
00:37:00.845 --> 00:37:03.290
I think maybe the ethos and the value
903
00:37:07.923 --> 00:37:09.931
of I guess maybe changing the conversation
904
00:37:09.931 --> 00:37:11.960
and the way that people are represented
905
00:37:11.960 --> 00:37:14.610
and having a platform
906
00:37:15.650 --> 00:37:18.983
and autonomy, I think.
907
00:37:18.983 --> 00:37:21.290
Yeah, I think if we come back again,
908
00:37:21.290 --> 00:37:23.720
much like we talked about with "Jamie Bianca" right
909
00:37:23.720 --> 00:37:24.553
at the beginning,
910
00:37:24.553 --> 00:37:27.050
that agency of how they choose to represent themselves.
911
00:37:27.050 --> 00:37:28.020
And I guess
912
00:37:31.049 --> 00:37:34.490
non-indigenous artists can have all the best intentions
913
00:37:34.490 --> 00:37:39.320
in the world and they can do marvellous jobs capturing people
914
00:37:39.320 --> 00:37:40.700
who aren't the same cultures as them,
915
00:37:40.700 --> 00:37:42.530
but when it comes to the point
916
00:37:42.530 --> 00:37:45.680
of having these amazing Aboriginal
917
00:37:45.680 --> 00:37:47.780
and Torres Strait Islander artists capturing
918
00:37:47.780 --> 00:37:50.280
their own communities in their own people, it adds
919
00:37:52.940 --> 00:37:54.620
another layer of integrity
920
00:37:54.620 --> 00:37:56.048
to the practise.
Absolutely.
921
00:37:56.048 --> 00:38:00.440
Which is extraordinary and it really does grab you.
922
00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:02.270
I was lucky enough to have a bit of a chat
923
00:38:02.270 --> 00:38:04.250
to Wayne on the day that he won the prize.
924
00:38:04.250 --> 00:38:05.330
You couldn't 'cause you were up north
925
00:38:05.330 --> 00:38:06.896
at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair.
926
00:38:06.896 --> 00:38:08.750
(ladies chuckling)
927
00:38:08.750 --> 00:38:11.750
I just assumed that this was a formal studio portrait,
928
00:38:11.750 --> 00:38:14.100
which is a very Western tradition that
929
00:38:16.070 --> 00:38:19.370
it's part of the vernacular of portraiture in Australia.
930
00:38:19.370 --> 00:38:22.640
But it turns out that this was in a backyard or something
931
00:38:22.640 --> 00:38:25.255
or just out on the land.
Yeah.
932
00:38:25.255 --> 00:38:28.313
As part of a festival.
Yeah, as part of a festival.
933
00:38:28.313 --> 00:38:31.100
Because he's got his ceremonial ochres on and everything
934
00:38:31.100 --> 00:38:35.060
for a traditional right.
Yeah, for dance.
935
00:38:36.913 --> 00:38:40.370
But no, so Wayne just sort of rigged up a little bit
936
00:38:40.370 --> 00:38:44.000
of black fabric or something on a tree, I think,
937
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:47.570
and then got Eric to stand in front of it.
938
00:38:47.570 --> 00:38:50.600
And the really lovely thing that we also learned,
939
00:38:50.600 --> 00:38:53.030
or that Wayne had put two and two together on
940
00:38:53.030 --> 00:38:58.030
was that Wayne had photographed Eric's grandfather
941
00:38:58.130 --> 00:39:01.820
30 years earlier in kind of the same space.
942
00:39:01.820 --> 00:39:02.810
So that was just amazing
943
00:39:02.810 --> 00:39:06.410
that there's this continual connection in community.
944
00:39:06.410 --> 00:39:08.753
Yeah. Yeah.
But that gaze is,
945
00:39:10.213 --> 00:39:11.153
like you say,
946
00:39:11.153 --> 00:39:12.377
it's a vulnerability.
It's so striking.
947
00:39:12.377 --> 00:39:14.030
But it's the strength as well.
948
00:39:14.030 --> 00:39:15.140
Yeah. Yeah.
949
00:39:15.140 --> 00:39:18.140
And I think the tidal silent strength is so fitting
950
00:39:18.140 --> 00:39:19.160
for the work.
951
00:39:19.160 --> 00:39:21.590
Yeah, it encapsulates everything of what I think
952
00:39:21.590 --> 00:39:24.170
of what this portrait is.
953
00:39:24.170 --> 00:39:26.180
I think you've said to me when we were talking about it
954
00:39:26.180 --> 00:39:29.960
with Nick when we were deciding that it was the winner,
955
00:39:29.960 --> 00:39:31.560
I think you said something about
956
00:39:33.260 --> 00:39:37.580
First Nations masculinities can be quite,
957
00:39:37.580 --> 00:39:39.960
Yeah.
Different or maybe not what
958
00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:44.360
we understand masculinity to be in Western culture.
959
00:39:44.360 --> 00:39:45.850
Yeah.
960
00:39:45.850 --> 00:39:48.500
I think it was definitely,
961
00:39:48.500 --> 00:39:49.400
yeah, this idea of,
962
00:39:49.400 --> 00:39:52.400
I guess, masculinity in Aboriginal
963
00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:54.620
and Torres Strait Islander people and, I guess,
964
00:39:54.620 --> 00:39:59.190
what's been put out into popular society
965
00:40:00.797 --> 00:40:03.780
that arcs back in both historic
966
00:40:04.790 --> 00:40:07.490
situations as well and conversations
967
00:40:07.490 --> 00:40:12.490
and dialogues around masculinity of First Nations people.
968
00:40:13.760 --> 00:40:16.760
But again, I think the strength in the work is
969
00:40:16.760 --> 00:40:18.650
through the vulnerability of that masculinity.
970
00:40:18.650 --> 00:40:22.670
So he's very strong and the pride as being,
971
00:40:22.670 --> 00:40:24.170
I suppose, a man as well,
972
00:40:24.170 --> 00:40:25.760
but there is a vulnerability in the sense
973
00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:27.391
of private life too.
974
00:40:27.391 --> 00:40:28.470
And it's
975
00:40:30.500 --> 00:40:31.820
taken back a little bit, I think.
976
00:40:31.820 --> 00:40:33.613
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
977
00:40:35.450 --> 00:40:39.469
All right, well let's have a look at the Darling winner,
978
00:40:39.469 --> 00:40:42.083
"2020" by Jaq Grantford.
979
00:40:43.160 --> 00:40:46.003
This as a painting is really quite interesting 'cause
980
00:40:47.463 --> 00:40:48.950
Jaq is a realist artist.
981
00:40:48.950 --> 00:40:50.630
This is a hyper real work.
982
00:40:50.630 --> 00:40:54.020
So to see it sitting next to Wayne's portrait
983
00:40:54.020 --> 00:40:56.428
of Eric Yunkaporta was
984
00:40:56.428 --> 00:40:57.650
really quite interesting
985
00:40:57.650 --> 00:41:01.253
because they both have very similar, I guess,
986
00:41:02.330 --> 00:41:04.820
compositional dynamisms around the darkness
987
00:41:04.820 --> 00:41:05.963
of the background,
988
00:41:06.980 --> 00:41:09.674
the accoutrements in their hair.
989
00:41:09.674 --> 00:41:11.060
(ladies chuckling)
990
00:41:11.060 --> 00:41:13.400
And the gaze too.
Yeah.
991
00:41:13.400 --> 00:41:16.368
And this is interesting because Jaq's a very,
992
00:41:16.368 --> 00:41:19.253
obviously, she's a very competent,
993
00:41:20.180 --> 00:41:21.860
very, very good painter.
994
00:41:21.860 --> 00:41:24.140
And for her to do a self-portrait
995
00:41:24.140 --> 00:41:26.300
where she's speaking about, again,
996
00:41:26.300 --> 00:41:28.310
some vulnerable elements, you know,
997
00:41:28.310 --> 00:41:30.980
she's speaking to COVID and the stresses that
998
00:41:30.980 --> 00:41:32.090
that put on her.
999
00:41:32.090 --> 00:41:34.340
Although she has also said it was kind
1000
00:41:34.340 --> 00:41:37.910
of nice having the excuse to have to be squirrelled away
1001
00:41:37.910 --> 00:41:40.310
in her studio for long,
1002
00:41:40.310 --> 00:41:42.710
long, long periods because you weren't allowed out.
1003
00:41:42.710 --> 00:41:44.900
She just got to paint.
1004
00:41:44.900 --> 00:41:45.803
But also,
1005
00:41:46.640 --> 00:41:48.384
since she
1006
00:41:48.384 --> 00:41:50.360
worked on this portrait,
1007
00:41:50.360 --> 00:41:52.850
she was diagnosed with cancer.
1008
00:41:52.850 --> 00:41:53.960
And all of that lovely,
1009
00:41:53.960 --> 00:41:56.180
lovely, messy hair with all of the brushes stuck in it,
1010
00:41:56.180 --> 00:41:58.130
she actually lost all their hair.
1011
00:41:58.130 --> 00:41:59.153
And so,
1012
00:42:00.085 --> 00:42:02.570
for Jaq to be putting the finishing touches
1013
00:42:02.570 --> 00:42:06.560
on this work when she's going through these challenges
1014
00:42:06.560 --> 00:42:08.270
and struggles in her personal life,
1015
00:42:08.270 --> 00:42:09.320
and I think that that
1016
00:42:10.490 --> 00:42:11.673
comes through absolutely
1017
00:42:11.673 --> 00:42:14.270
in the look in her eyes, you know.
1018
00:42:14.270 --> 00:42:15.920
Again, there is that,
1019
00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:18.950
it's strong, but it's incredibly vulnerable,
1020
00:42:18.950 --> 00:42:20.425
but very open and honest as well.
1021
00:42:20.425 --> 00:42:23.950
And again, it speaks to that privilege that we get given
1022
00:42:23.950 --> 00:42:26.450
by not just the artists being willing
1023
00:42:26.450 --> 00:42:30.200
to put themselves out there and offer these works to us,
1024
00:42:30.200 --> 00:42:31.520
but also the sitters,
1025
00:42:31.520 --> 00:42:34.560
the subjects being willing to be
1026
00:42:36.260 --> 00:42:37.490
met and explored
1027
00:42:37.490 --> 00:42:40.031
and even interrogated by us.
Yeah. Absolutely.
1028
00:42:40.031 --> 00:42:41.593
Yeah. Yeah.
1029
00:42:45.680 --> 00:42:48.260
I was lucky enough to be in the room
1030
00:42:48.260 --> 00:42:50.300
when the judges selected this one.
1031
00:42:50.300 --> 00:42:53.630
It was an interesting process because Nicholas Cullinan is
1032
00:42:53.630 --> 00:42:56.510
in London and Clothilde was in Perth.
1033
00:42:56.510 --> 00:42:58.520
And so our director, Karyn,
1034
00:42:58.520 --> 00:43:01.100
was the only judge that was in the building
1035
00:43:01.100 --> 00:43:03.110
and the rest was done virtually.
1036
00:43:03.110 --> 00:43:05.210
And so I do remember them talking about this work
1037
00:43:05.210 --> 00:43:07.770
when they were making the decision to select
1038
00:43:08.870 --> 00:43:10.730
Jaq's self-portrait.
1039
00:43:10.730 --> 00:43:12.200
And
1040
00:43:12.200 --> 00:43:14.700
it was very much about
1041
00:43:15.860 --> 00:43:19.760
this sort of combination of the gaze
1042
00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:22.430
and how successful Jaq has been
1043
00:43:22.430 --> 00:43:24.773
in having this really honest,
1044
00:43:25.730 --> 00:43:29.213
integrity-filled connection with the viewer.
1045
00:43:30.140 --> 00:43:32.390
But it was also about her capacity
1046
00:43:32.390 --> 00:43:35.300
to deliver a really unusual composition
1047
00:43:35.300 --> 00:43:37.186
and do it with such success.
1048
00:43:37.186 --> 00:43:39.770
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
1049
00:43:39.770 --> 00:43:40.970
Yeah.
1050
00:43:40.970 --> 00:43:45.230
It is, the gaze in it is very strong and I agree.
1051
00:43:45.230 --> 00:43:49.280
The privilege that we have,
1052
00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:52.283
as viewers of looking at works like this,
1053
00:43:53.840 --> 00:43:57.590
of having artists and sitters be quite vulnerable
1054
00:43:57.590 --> 00:44:01.970
and express private and personal moments of their life
1055
00:44:01.970 --> 00:44:03.953
that aren't necessarily performed.
1056
00:44:05.420 --> 00:44:06.530
Yeah.
Yeah.
1057
00:44:06.530 --> 00:44:08.270
And one thing that you and I have both talked about
1058
00:44:08.270 --> 00:44:09.530
when we've been looking at the prizes,
1059
00:44:09.530 --> 00:44:11.840
'cause I got to work on the arrangement for the Darling
1060
00:44:11.840 --> 00:44:12.980
and you got to work on the arrangement
1061
00:44:12.980 --> 00:44:16.020
for the NPPP, was that
1062
00:44:19.520 --> 00:44:21.980
there is a lot of offering of emotions
1063
00:44:21.980 --> 00:44:24.350
in these two prizes this year.
1064
00:44:24.350 --> 00:44:26.570
I mean, we're learning people's stories
1065
00:44:26.570 --> 00:44:29.930
and everybody lives their own experiences.
1066
00:44:29.930 --> 00:44:33.686
And there's a good chance that some of the people
1067
00:44:33.686 --> 00:44:36.740
that we get to learn about in these prizes this year,
1068
00:44:36.740 --> 00:44:39.080
we will never have the same experiences as them,
1069
00:44:39.080 --> 00:44:40.940
but we will understand the emotions
1070
00:44:40.940 --> 00:44:42.170
that they're going through at the time,
1071
00:44:42.170 --> 00:44:43.910
whether they're the good ones or the bad ones.
1072
00:44:43.910 --> 00:44:44.743
Absolutely, I think,
1073
00:44:44.743 --> 00:44:48.830
yeah, the universality of all of the emotions
1074
00:44:48.830 --> 00:44:51.470
and experiences and as you say,
1075
00:44:51.470 --> 00:44:55.130
while we might not necessarily ever experience one
1076
00:44:55.130 --> 00:44:59.900
of the events that people are talking about,
1077
00:44:59.900 --> 00:45:01.250
we can understand, I think,
1078
00:45:01.250 --> 00:45:04.853
the emotions of it at some point in our life as well.
1079
00:45:05.900 --> 00:45:08.890
And definitely, I think in the arrangement of the NPPP,
1080
00:45:08.890 --> 00:45:11.210
of the exhibition and the works,
1081
00:45:11.210 --> 00:45:13.280
there's a really lovely storyline
1082
00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:14.627
or thread through those emotions.
1083
00:45:14.627 --> 00:45:16.470
And you can travel around and
1084
00:45:18.200 --> 00:45:21.173
sort of feel each work and come into it with,
1085
00:45:22.940 --> 00:45:25.040
and somewhat of an emotional experience too, I think.
1086
00:45:25.040 --> 00:45:26.720
Yeah, a connection.
And a connection to it,
1087
00:45:26.720 --> 00:45:27.953
yeah, absolutely.
1088
00:45:29.600 --> 00:45:30.433
Do you know what,
1089
00:45:30.433 --> 00:45:33.298
I think that might be a nice note to wrap things up.
1090
00:45:33.298 --> 00:45:34.131
(Rebecca chuckling)
1091
00:45:34.131 --> 00:45:36.298
What do you think, Robert?
1092
00:45:37.403 --> 00:45:39.650
Yeah, I think that's covered all the portraits
1093
00:45:39.650 --> 00:45:41.300
that we were gonna look at today.
1094
00:45:42.830 --> 00:45:45.173
Do you wanna say your farewells?
1095
00:45:46.070 --> 00:45:49.550
Yeah, so thank you very much for joining us today
1096
00:45:49.550 --> 00:45:51.590
and hopefully we'll see you at the next programme,
1097
00:45:51.590 --> 00:45:54.710
and absolutely, at the gallery if you can come to Canberra.
1098
00:45:54.710 --> 00:45:55.963
And I think, Robert,
1099
00:45:55.963 --> 00:45:59.300
we might be putting in a little note about
1100
00:45:59.300 --> 00:46:02.090
how people can maybe choose their favourite portrait as well.
1101
00:46:02.090 --> 00:46:04.790
Oh, People's Choice.
Yeah.
1102
00:46:04.790 --> 00:46:08.930
Oh yes, let me pull myself up on the screen.
1103
00:46:08.930 --> 00:46:09.863
There we go.
1104
00:46:11.960 --> 00:46:14.960
Oh, thanks so much Rebecca and Sandra for that.
1105
00:46:14.960 --> 00:46:16.490
It's always such privilege
1106
00:46:16.490 --> 00:46:19.471
to hear our curators giving their insights
1107
00:46:19.471 --> 00:46:24.163
behind the portraits in our exhibitions.
1108
00:46:24.163 --> 00:46:26.420
Also, thanks very much
1109
00:46:26.420 --> 00:46:29.030
to our hardworking Auslan interpreters,
1110
00:46:29.030 --> 00:46:31.733
Andrea and Sheri, well done.
1111
00:46:33.050 --> 00:46:34.670
The Darling Portrait Prize
1112
00:46:34.670 --> 00:46:38.390
and the National Photographic Portrait Prize, 2022,
1113
00:46:38.390 --> 00:46:40.400
are open until the 9th of October.
1114
00:46:40.400 --> 00:46:42.140
So if you are in the Canberra region,
1115
00:46:42.140 --> 00:46:43.070
get on down here.
1116
00:46:43.070 --> 00:46:45.997
You've got a little while to go,
1117
00:46:45.997 --> 00:46:49.070
so you can see them actually hanging on the wall.
1118
00:46:49.070 --> 00:46:50.720
If you can't get to Canberra,
1119
00:46:50.720 --> 00:46:53.236
all of the images that we looked at today
1120
00:46:53.236 --> 00:46:54.800
in this presentation,
1121
00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:59.690
but all of the portraits in both of those exhibitions can
1122
00:46:59.690 --> 00:47:03.533
be found on our website which is portrait.gov.au.
1123
00:47:05.390 --> 00:47:08.186
And you can see the artist statements
1124
00:47:08.186 --> 00:47:11.123
and see the images in their full glory.
1125
00:47:12.380 --> 00:47:17.150
And at the bottom of each page with the portrait,
1126
00:47:17.150 --> 00:47:20.960
you can vote for your choice for the People's Choice Award.
1127
00:47:20.960 --> 00:47:22.610
That's right, Sandra.
1128
00:47:22.610 --> 00:47:25.760
And we always wait with baited breath to see
1129
00:47:25.760 --> 00:47:26.783
that choice made.
1130
00:47:28.280 --> 00:47:29.750
Lastly before we go,
1131
00:47:29.750 --> 00:47:32.630
just a quick plug that we're starting our
1132
00:47:32.630 --> 00:47:36.020
National Photographic Portrait Prize Slow Looking Programme,
1133
00:47:36.020 --> 00:47:40.040
looking at the NPPP on Mondays from the 1st of August.
1134
00:47:40.040 --> 00:47:45.040
So if you have an hour spare at lunchtime on Mondays,
1135
00:47:45.230 --> 00:47:46.370
come in for a good,
1136
00:47:46.370 --> 00:47:51.370
slow look at some of the other portraits in that exhibition.
1137
00:47:51.710 --> 00:47:53.780
We will continue our regular
1138
00:47:53.780 --> 00:47:57.680
Tuesday Virtual Highlights Tours at lunchtime on Tuesdays,
1139
00:47:57.680 --> 00:47:59.690
so keep in touch with those.
1140
00:47:59.690 --> 00:48:01.130
And as I said at the top,
1141
00:48:01.130 --> 00:48:03.800
we've got these two exciting Art Making Workshops
1142
00:48:03.800 --> 00:48:05.990
coming up in September, October.
1143
00:48:05.990 --> 00:48:09.560
So just go to portrait.gov.au to the What's On section
1144
00:48:09.560 --> 00:48:10.853
to find out about those.
1145
00:48:11.810 --> 00:48:13.130
I think that's it from us.
1146
00:48:13.130 --> 00:48:14.330
So thanks, everyone.
1147
00:48:14.330 --> 00:48:16.160
Thanks for joining us and we'll see you
1148
00:48:16.160 --> 00:48:18.230
at our next online engagement.
1149
00:48:18.230 --> 00:48:19.063
See you later.