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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.

Fatima, 2016

Anu Kumar

pigment photographic print (sheet: 100cm x 100cm)
Fatima, 2016

‘This image is part of an ongoing series of photographs of refugees and immigrants in Melbourne. Fatima is from Pakistan and had recently settled here with her two young children, while her husband remained in Pakistan to finish his studies. I chose Fatima as a subject because her resilience in the face of adversity found her a home, in Australia, where she finally belongs. Fatima said: “I wanted to leave them respectfully, I wanted to leave them forever. And I did that. I’m quite successful … Things are better here for me. There is truly nothing I miss from Pakistan.”’

Anu Kumar is a photographic artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Working primarily with medium-format photography, she photographs gentle everyday experiences that resonate with broader themes of displacement, memory and the reconstruction of home across borders.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 Finalist

National Photographic Portrait Prize
(More information, View all 21 images)

Celia inside a watchtower

Related information

Part 14 of Untitled, 2023 Anu Kumar
Part 14 of Untitled, 2023 Anu Kumar
Part 14 of Untitled, 2023 Anu Kumar
Part 14 of Untitled, 2023 Anu Kumar

if only we could take the time

Magazine article by Sonia Nair, 2025

Sonia Nair looks at Anu Kumar, whose portraiture practice preserves the intimate, in-between moments of her hometown in India.
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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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