Australian Life Photography Exhibition

Photo: Phil Duval
Photo: Phil Duval

Australian Life is one of the nation’s biggest photography prizes.

Take an intimate journey through contrasting scenes of community, curiosity and yearning with this year’s Australian Life photography prize finalists.

From intimate portraits to larger-than-life spectacles, these 28 images encapsulate Australia’s unique personality.

Every image demands a response, and some may linger in your mind beyond leaving them.

Young love, struggle, ordinary activities, quiet reflections, and renewed vitality – these documented moments represent a multitude of stories that make up Australian Life.

About Australian Life

For more than 15 years, amateur and professional photographers have sent in their epic and intimate images of Australia. The finalists, and the $10,000 grand prize winner, were chosen by a panel of professional photographers, artists, and curators.

The City of Sydney produces Australian Life as part of Art & About Sydney, an ongoing program of temporary art projects in unusual spaces.

See all the finalists and grand prize winner in the online gallery. You can also vote for your favourite image in the people’s choice award.

2023 Finalists

  • Theodore Miller
  • Chris Round
  • Adrian Plitzco
  • Jamie James
  • Robert Knapman
  • Grace Lillia Faith Taranto-Jones
  • Zorica Purlija
  • Richard Hughes
  • Samuel Ferris
  • Jaiver Alexis Rendon Diaz
  • Louise Kennerley
  • m ellen burns
  • Francis Macindoe
  • Trent Mitchell
  • Missa Williams
  • Neil Bailey
  • Gang Jian
  • Guy Wilkinson
  • Jasmine Poole
  • Mridula Amin
  • Edwina Pickles
  • Dion Georgopoulos
  • Josh Robenstone
  • Paul Consolacion
  • Glenn Homann
  • Emma Perry
  • Lisa Hogben
  • Bel Macedone

From 14 September, the Australian Life will be exhibited on Alfred Street in Circular Quay.

The peoples choice award voting opens on Thursday 14 September, and closes on Sunday 1 October. The winner will be announced on Thursday 5 October.

 

Upcoming Events Submit an Event

February

Melbourne: 28 Nov 2025 – 26 May 2026. The exhibition celebrates the wide-ranging photographic practices of more than eighty women artists working between 1900 and 1975.

Sydney: Until 11 April. Unfinished Business brings together the voices of 30 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with disabilities from remote, regional, and urban communities across Australia.

Canberra: Until 6 Sept 2026. Trent Parke’s photographic series The Christmas tree bucket 2006–09 is a tender and darkly humorous portrayal of his extended family coming together to celebrate Christmas.

Melbourne: 11 Feb – 25 April 2026. Familial brings together six international artists whose work navigates the emotional and psychological terrain of family.

March

Sydney: Until 7 Feb 2027. From his archive of more than 200,000 images, Close Up celebrates the historic moments and pivotal people he famously captured.

Melbourne: 5 March – 7 August 2026. Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s, artist and social documentary photographer Viva Gibb (1945-2017) documented the suburbs of North and West Melbourne, where she lived.

Melbourne: 7 March – 24 May 2026. Photos of flowers from the NGA collection by prominent photographers drawn such as Robert Mapplethorpe and four groundbreaking Australian photographers.

Melbourne: 10 March – 5 May 2026. TOPshots is an annual celebration of emerging photo-media artists selected from a large pool of entries.

April

Sydney: 9 April event 6-9pm. Unfinished is a free event to show/see photo-based work in progress or recently completed personal projects run by photographers for photographers.

Sydney: 15 April – 9 May 2026. An exhibition of fine art photography celebrating the intersection of maritime history and the human form.