© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 Finalist
The pandemic for me has been a time of mixed feelings. A time of fear and concern for the safety of the people I know. Uncertainty about seeing my daughter and mother when the borders closed. And then in contrast to this, there was a guilty relief that the chaos of life could simply stop. That I could enter the studio and create.
Shortly after finishing this painting I was diagnosed with cancer and lost all my hair. Although it has since started to grow back, I now feel some level of disconnect from the women with a full head of hair in this self portrait.
The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.
The Darling Prize is a new biennial prize for Australian portrait painters, painting Australian sitters. The winner receives a cash prize of $75,000.
Little Darlings is for primary and secondary students, with four separate categories across Kindergarten to Year 12. Responding to the theme ‘identity’, students painted, drew, photographed, printed or combined all of these to make their portrait.
