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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.

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James & Riley at home [1], 2024

Torrey Bruinstroop

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025 Finalist

pigment photographic print on paper (image: 88.5cm x 57.8cm. sheet: 96.0cm x 71.0cm. frame: 112.7cm x 81.0cm depth 3.8cm)

‘“Queer people must literally construct the houses they will be born into” – Nayland Blake. I return to ideas about home and queerness regularly in my work. Home is a place I’ve run from most of my life; home is a place I’ve needed to find. On a recent trip interstate, I visited my friend Riley and his partner James. Seeing them so at ease with each other in their home reminded me of the peace I’ve found at home with my partner. In this shallow focus close-up, Riley frames James in an over-the-shoulder embrace.’

Torrey Bruinstroop is a photographer and writer who lives in Magandjin/Brisbane. Bruinstroop combines analogue in-camera techniques with minimal digital editing to create images that are rooted in the aesthetics of 20th-century queer photographers such as David Wojnarowicz, George Platt Lynes and Peter Hujar.

People's Choice Award

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025

The People’s Choice Award is generously supported by the Calvert-Jones Foundation, with the artist who wins the most votes receiving $10,000.

Voting closes Sunday 28 September 2025.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025

© National Portrait Gallery 2025
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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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