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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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Mirror II, 2022

Gerwyn Davies

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023 Finalist

archival pigment print on paper (frame: 132.6cm x 92.9cm depth 3.5cm)

While the camera is conventionally claimed to possess a unique capacity for revealing something of a subject to its viewer, in Mirror II I instead perform an act of queer photographic dis/appearance. My figure is concealed beneath a spectacular costume that mutually entices and resists examination, while the image terrain is manicured to become implausibly shallow and aglow. This double bind of a figure conspicuously produced for the lens yet unable to be seen – hiding in plain sight – reflects my interest in the potential for queer representational in/visibility in which subjects are empowered to pass before the camera un/seen.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

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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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