© National Portrait Gallery 2025
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Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
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National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 Finalist
These portraits were motivated by a challenging comment – ‘shave your beard off, you look like a terrorist’ – my parents (who are Lebanese Australians) directed at my brothers, hoping to persuade them to shave. The portraits are of young men who wear beards not as a religious requirement or symbol of political allegiance, but rather as a ‘hipster’ style choice. Problematically, their appearance and ethnicity superficially recall images of ‘jihadis’ represented in the western media. The portraits also recall clinical passport images; however, the subjects challenge the authority of institutional requirements: they subvert the camera’s gaze by looking to the side.
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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