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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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The Quarry, 2022

Tajette O'Halloran

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023 Finalist

digital photograph on paper (frame: 122.7cm x 94.2cm depth 6.0cm)

For the past year I've been returning to the Bexhill Quarry on the outskirts of Lismore documenting the people and ecosystems within its parameters. The location, with its aqua blue water nestled under towering sandstone cliffs, is an abandoned brickworks quarry that has become a popular swimming destination for both locals and tourists.

The quarry serves as a constant backdrop to an ever-evolving microcosm, bearing witness to people coming and going, the flora blooming and dying, and the landscape shifting and changing – evoking a sense of 'place' as temporal and rhythmic in a more-than-human world.

This is a portrait of local boy, Brody, in the water.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

Other NPPP photos from Tajette O'Halloran

Leaving Melbourne (Battle wounds), 2020 Tajette O'Halloran
2021 Finalist
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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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