© 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
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
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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