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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Paradise Lost, 2021

Liz Ham

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 Finalist

digital print on paper (frame: 89.2cm x 70.5cm depth 3.0cm)
Paradise Lost, 2021

For 22 years this former Newtown nunnery has homed an ever-evolving Sydney queer community. Lovingly known as The Dirty Habit, it is a safe and inclusive space where queer people have lived and gathered. Due to the house falling into disrepair the current tenants must leave. The site is due to be redeveloped imminently. The dissolution of this living arrangement is mirrored in this portrait, photographed during a thunderstorm in The Habit’s last days. The ultimate inhabitants pay tribute to its powerful legacy. Their performative activism plays with notions of lust and decadence, while encapsulating their own queer spirituality.

Courtesy of the artist

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022
(More information, View all 50 photos)

Bushwalk
Indigo
Stella
Martha Singing

Related information

Silent Strength, 2021 Wayne Quilliam
Silent Strength, 2021 Wayne Quilliam
Silent Strength, 2021 Wayne Quilliam
Silent Strength, 2021 Wayne Quilliam

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

Previous exhibition, 2022

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.
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The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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