© 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 2018 Finalist
It was with trepidation that I approached eX de Medici – an intensely private person with no desire to have her image on public view – to ask to make her portrait; reluctantly, she agreed. eX is one of Australia's foremost contemporary artists, with her work held in the collections of our most prestigious galleries and museums. Her art is a captivating mix of guns and military helmets juxtaposed with the natural world – flowers and endangered species form backdrops and textures. eX is photographed here on a plain backdrop overlaid with writing from her ‘wall of shame’. The text overlaying her image is an acknowledgement of the tattooist within the fine artist.
Magda Keaney explores the symbolism in eX de Medici's portrait of Midnight Oil.
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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