Next Gallery

Australian Professional Photography Awards Winners' Gallery

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 1 of 28

Ellie Meade

Stevie Payne is a name well known in the horse racing industry. He is a successful strapper, working for the Darren Weir Stables for the past 14 years in Miners Rest, just outside of Ballarat, Victoria.

Stevie has had many group one wins at various race meetings. Born with Down Syndrome, he has accomplished more in the sport of horse racing than many without a disability. Stevie’s biggest moment in his career came when his sister Michelle was the winning jockey in the 2015 Melbourne Cup, with Stevie the winning strapper. He became a symbol of the capabilities and possibilities of people with Down Syndrome. The Melbourne Cup win allowed the world to see a young man with a disability doing his job at an elite level. For my portrait, instead of a studio, I chose to photograph Stevie at his home. I wanted him to feel relaxed in his own environment, which helped to bring out his funny and cheeky personality and was a more than willing model.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 2 of 28

Kellie Leczinska

Penelope Seidler has changed the landscape of Australian art and architecture. This portrait of Penelope was taken at the iconic Seidler house, Killara; designed in the mid-1960s by Penelope and her late husband, Harry. It was a privilege to spend time in her home as it gave me a real sense of her as a person. Penelope is seated in a Marcel Breuer chair, acknowledging the mentor of her late husband Harry Seidler. This medieval modernist home of many textures set within earthy stone and concrete walls layer so beautifully, revealing a life well lived; illuminating Penelope’s strength as a vibrant and inspiring woman who has contributed so much to the arts.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 3 of 28

Kristen Lyttle

I am blessed to know Aunty Sana Balai. This image was taken in my home when Aunty Sana, Namila Benson, Gina Rophia and I came together to share food, laughter and stories. I am part of a generation of Pacific diaspora artists who have benefited from Aunty Sanaâ€™s experience and generosity. I am in awe of her. I am conscious of being respectful towards Aunty. She knows this and responds with playful cheekiness and teasing that only a Pacific Elder can do.

Aunty Sana Balai is an advocate, educator, advisor, mentor and respected elder (while remaining irreverent).

Born on Buka Island, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, she studied applied science and spent over 13 years working at Bougainville Copper Limited. In 1988, when civil war broke out, she and Uncle Bryan fled Bougainville after having been brutally attacked by members of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. In 1997, she began her museum career at the Melbourne Museum and went on to work at the National Gallery of Victoria as Assistant Curator, Indigenous Arts until 2016. Her presence and roles in these institutions has made these spaces culturally safer for me and the Pacific community of Melbourne to visit and engage with.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 4 of 28

Alex Ellinghausen

Noongar, Yamatji and Wongi man, Ken Wyatt, wears a booka made of kangaroo skin and the feather of a red-tailed black cockatoo which symbolises leadership, given to him by Noongar elders from Western Australia. He was the first Aboriginal person elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 and made history again when he was the first Aboriginal member of cabinet after his appointment as Minister for Indigenous Australians.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 5 of 28

Katrin Koenning

Haunting and visceral, Tom's work with both Big Scary and No Mono defines some of the most profound and important contemporary music being made in Australia.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 6 of 28

Steve Young

This shot was taken during my first shoot with Paul. I simply asked him if I could photograph him in the waters off St Kilda Beach and he said yes. His affinity with water has always been evident to me through his music and the odd comment here and there over the years. Made sense. A few years later he asked me to photograph his album artwork, that album being Death's Dateless Night, with Charlie Owen. The following year he asked me if he could use this photograph from the bay for the cover of his next album, Life Is Fine. The next time I saw him he gave me a book as a thank you gift for the work. It is entitled "Photo" by Martin Kantor. Inside the cover Paul wrote, "Steve, it started with Martin. Thank you for the great pics, Paul". It was on the return trip from performing a song at Martin's funeral that Paul and Charlie decided to make an album of songs that they had played at friends' funerals. And so began my photographic journey with Paul in earnest. I found Paul's inscription later that evening at home and I cried joy and sadness.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 7 of 28

Penelope Hunt

Alan Constable is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice spans drawing, painting and ceramics. He is also living with Autism and is hearing and visually impaired.

He is most renowned for his ceramic cameras and binoculars. Objects used for seeing and capturing the world around us, Constable begins by exploring these items with his hands and limited sight. He then feels them out in clay, his large finger prints indented into the surface for eternity. Each camera unique and beautiful in its own right. Having worked alongside Alan for a number of years, Finding Focus refers to his tactility and the way he finds form, focus and understanding through his hands.

Alan Constable’s cameras are highly collected, with the National Gallery of Victoria acquiring thirteen pieces presented in 'Melbourne Now' in 2014. Alan Constable (born 1956) has worked in the Arts Project studio since 1991 and had his first solo show in 2011. He has since had solo shows at Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane; Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney; South Willard, Los Angeles; and Stills Gallery, Sydney. He is highly collected and has featured in numerous group shows, including MADMusée Belgium, and has won awards including Victorian Craft Award.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 8 of 28

Robert Erp

A picture paints a thousand words.

The Hatter

Richard Nylon, Milliner, Australian fashion icon.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 9 of 28

Sanjeev Singh

At the tender age of 10, Georgie was the youngest person to receive hormone blockers in Australia, setting a precedent that eventually changed the law that compelled transgender children and their families to apply to the Family Court to access stage one treatment. Ever since then, Georgie has been a force to be reckoned with, advocating for trans and gender diverse children.

Now 19, Georgie is embarking on new paths as a first-year student at university and will soon be featured as the first trans character on Neighbours, while continuing her work in advocacy.

Inspired by the portrait works of painter Charles Goldie, I wanted to capture this pivotal moment in Georgie’s life as she steps into the world of adulthood. the quiet strength and character that has enveloped Georgie’s life and continues to shape the path she takes in advocating for the trans community. She has embraced the challenges before her with determination to make a difference and made it her mission to carve the path for others after her.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 10 of 28

Thuy Vy

A portrait of David Gulpilil in the Kimberleys.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 11 of 28

Alex Ellinghausen

Julia Gillard was Australia’s first female Prime Minister serving in that role from 24 June 2010 - 27 June 2013. Her legacies as Prime Minister include putting a price on carbon, the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and in one of her final acts as leader, ordering a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Frank, a survivor who attended the National Apology fell to his feet to kiss Gillard feet and said “our unmarried, deliberately barren, atheist female prime minister, she has done more to protect the safety and welfare of children into the future than all the other prime ministers combined.”

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 12 of 28

Alison Rose

Social Justice Advocate – Julie Bates AO Julie Bates was awarded Queens Birthday honours in 2018 for her work championing the rights of sex workers and peer education for HIV/AIDS transmission. As a single mother and sex worker, now 68, she is a brave and resolute campaigner, still at the forefront of real social change. Women, as depicted in popular culture, are stamped with a “use-by” date, where sexiness depends on youth, and social prestige is set to an intolerant expiry. Ageism—particularly toward women—is rife. For the experience of most women, as the decades roll on, life stretches ahead with increasing invisibility. My works tackle the retrograde value proposition inherent in a woman’s stereotypical shelf life. Taking the Graeco-Roman convention of the sculptural bust, my photographs of real women graft an honest confession of age onto the abstract stone archetype of the past. As the colour and sharpness of the photographic portrait contrast with the aloof mineral authority of the aristocratic Roman antecedent, the lively character of my sitters is heightened. Self-awareness, matured by experience and the wisdom of time, allows women simply to be who they have become, rather than striving for eternal youth and consigned to oblivion thereafter.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 13 of 28

Tristan Still

"Black women are taught that we have to work 10 times harder than everyone else just to survive. And because of that I've had to adapt, learn and be so many things just to exist. It's a blessing and a curse. But I can confidently say I am at peace with myself and the strength that's grown in me. I forgive the world, but I will never forget."

Serwah Gyekyewah Attafuah is an Ashanti/Fante woman currently living on Gadigal land. She is an artist and political activist, perhaps most noted for her contribution to the highly political anti-colonial death metal band, DISPOSSESSED, described as the "most uncompromising, unapologetic and important band in Australia".

Serwah's achievements sit firmly at the intersection between politics and art. She drives a staunch anti-colonial message through her art and music, championing marginalised voices and narratives. Working alongside several First Nations, black and LGBTQI+ groups and organisations, she creates digital wastelands and afro-futuristic reflections of self through 3D art and paintings with strong ancestral themes.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 14 of 28

Glenn Hunt

Jeffrey Christopher Horn Jr. is an Australian professional boxer who held the WBO welterweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, Horn represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals of the light-welterweight bracket.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 15 of 28

Glenn Hunt

Judy Watson is an Indigenous multi-media artist who works in print-making, painting, video and installation.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 16 of 28

Sophia Hewson

© Sophia Hewson. Untitled (Natural Birth II), 2018.

This is a self-portrait giving birth. I am working, as a multidisciplinary artist, to generate ways of speaking about the body that are alternative to patriarchal ideology encoded in art, law, language and economy. Thus I use my body in my work as a means to inhabit a new subject position alternative to these singular idealities.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 17 of 28

Jeff Busby

Phillip Adams is the artistic director of Phillip Adams BalletLab.

‘Phillip Adams' career in dance and performance spans over 25 years as a vital contributor to the richness of Australian performing arts. Adams' works provide a crucial point of differentiation: an alternative modality, fearless choreographic practice and risk-taking approach to creation and presentation.

Adams’ process draws on collaboration through hybrid mediums of music, design, fashion, architecture, cinema, visual arts and photography engaging with the unorthodox, queer and popular culture. Phillip's process defines a model and a psychologically generative, collaborative environment that continually extends the parameters of dance and visual art-based practise to produce bold artistic choreography and artworks.”

I have collaborated with Phillip Adams since 1998, as a board member for many years, documenting his work and creating images for the promotion of the company.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 18 of 28

Kelly Champion

Susan Beal’s ground-breaking research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) revolutionised public policy on paediatric care and to this day continues to save thousands of young lives. Beal meticulously researched SIDS for over 20 years until she released her findings to the world. She made the recommendation that babies should be placed on their backs to sleep, rather than their stomachs and without loose bedding. Beal spent countless hours interviewing over 500 families who had lost their babies whilst raising 5 children of her own. Beal’s legacy has resulted in a reduction of SIDS cases by a staggering 85% between 1989 to 2007.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 19 of 28

Mia Mala McDonald

The subject is the author Helen Garner, who famously hates having her picture taken. Helen Garner is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham Campbell Prize for non-fiction and the Western Australian Premier's Book Award. In 2019 she was honoured with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. Her novels include Monkey Grip, Cosmo Cosmolino, and The Spare Room.

I was asked to photograph Helen for a feature in The Monthly. It was my first shoot back since I had my daughter and I was really nervous. I hoped to capture the truest version of Helen that I could: blunt and unafraid but also tender and fragile. When Helen opened the door I couldn't help but blurt out my anxiety about getting the shots right and my serious new parent baby brain. I think Helen appreciated the honestly and we spent an afternoon at her house eating Vegemite biscuits and taking photos.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 20 of 28

Ponch Hawkes

Darvell Hutchinson AM is a leader and visionary in the Australian philanthropic sector.

His remarkable stewardship of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust for 50 years, turned a bequest of 275,000 pounds in 1951 into a leading trust with funds of $120 million. So far, the trust has distributed 4,800 grants totalling $125m for the benefit of Victorians.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 21 of 28

Rod McNicol

This is a tale of two distinct threads interwoven through Ron Merkel’s life over the years. The primary thread has been the unfolding of Ron’s illustrious career in the legal profession. The other, lesser known, thread has been his love and passion for India.

Ron was admitted to the bar in 1971, appointed Queens Counsel in 1982 and from 1996 to 2006 was a judge of the Federal Court, returning to the bar in 2006 to primarily focus on public interest and indigenous matters. He was a founding member of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Koori Aboriginal Heritage Trust, President of the Council of Civil Liberties, the list goes - culminating in Ron being awarded the 2011 Human Rights Medal.

Inspired by a student exchange visit to India in the1960s, Ron and family have frequently returned to this vibrant, enchanting, complex country. In recent times he has become patron and supporter of the East West Foundation in Tamil Nadu, a foundation that runs a children’s home, and many other community facilities.

So these are the two interwoven lives of Ron Merkel, one considered, compassionate and judicious, the other warm, enchanting and chaotic - such a rich combination!

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 22 of 28

Rodney Stewart

Opening a photography studio in Fitzroy in the mid 80s when Brunswick Street was just a bunch of old shops and vacant factories, the Black Cat cafe and its founder, Henry Maas, stood out as the one bright spot and the epitome of cool. Since his early experimentation with cabaret inherited from his European family, Henry Maas has featured as an innovator in Melbourne’s cultural landscape. A musician, painter, nightclub owner and front man of Bachelors from Prague, for almost forty years he has remained an icon of Melbourne’s creative scene.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 23 of 28

Shara Henderson

I was commissioned by The Financial Times UK to photograph Charlie Veron on location in Townsville, Queensland, for an article detailing the devastating impact global warming has had on the Great Barrier Reef, and its surrounds. 73 year old Veron is one of the worldâ€™s greatest authorities on coral reef systems, and has spent more than 6,000 hours diving the Great Barrier Reef, cataloging about a fifth of the world’s coral species.

Dubbed the 'God Father' of coral, Charlie has encouraged a deeper understanding of and appreciation for our fragile coral ecosystem, and how it's slow but certain degradation reflects our ever growing impact on planet earth.

I am grateful for the work that Charlie and his fellow environmental warriors do, and hope that his decades long contribution continue to inspire current and future generations to protect and celebrate our natural landscapes both in and out of the water.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 24 of 28

Sonia Esposito

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 25 of 28

Tobias Titz

Michael Leunig is a highly regarded cartoonist, poet and cultural commentator.

The image is part of a long-term collaborative portrait project in which the sitter is invited to etch their reaction to the portrait in the wet emulsion of the large format Polaroid film.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 26 of 28

Alison Bennett

Peter and I met over a decade ago at the Glasshouse, the famous lesbian bar in Collingwood, now closed. It may have been in the early hours of the morning and we talked about my photography practice as a form of anthropology from within my own subculture. Since that time I have watched Peter's growth as an artist and an elder with quiet pride. I was delighted to see his work included in exhibitions at the prestigious Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Peter currently has a major solo exhibition 'Inside Out' at the Koorie Heritage Trust in Federation Square.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 27 of 28

Chris Budgeon

As a young photography student studying in Canada, I helped pay my way through collage by shooting live music acts for a friend who worked in the music industry. One evening I saw the Australian band The Sports playing in Toronto, and was completely blown away by the performance of their lead singer Stephen Cummings. Forty years later I have the honour of knowing Stephen, and asked him to sit for this contemplative portrait.

Rock singer-songwriter Stephen Cummings is an Australian music icon who has been performing his unique style of music for over four decades. Starting with the seminal new wave band The Sports in 1976, Stephen’s critically acclaimed and prolific career has seen him release over 20 studio albums. With his prodigious story telling skills he has also written two novels, and his memoirs were turned into the documentary film ‘Don’t Throw Stones’ in 2014. He currently continues to write and perform music, with a studio album of new material soon to be released.

Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists 28 of 28

Christopher Polack

This portrait is otherworldly. Like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The jet black raven fly's over her head creating a dramatic setting that exemplifies the gothic style I see in the artist's artwork.

Artist, jeweller and taxidermist Julia deVille is an animal rights activist and has been including naturally deceased animals in her work since 2002.

Julia's fascination with the reflection on mortality has informed her jewellery designs and art pieces.

You have just viewed "Martin Kantor Portrait Prize 2019 – Gallery of Finalists"

Reload

28 August 2019