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National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024 Finalist
Saville Coble
born Australia 1974
New Gold 2024
pigment photographic print on paper
‘This is a portrait of Dr Christian Thompson AO, a contemporary visual artist and a Bidjara man of the Kunja Nation. The gold lightly painted across his face is a reference to the lesser-known side of his Chinese-Australian heritage and to “Xin Jin Shan”, which is how the first wave of Chinese immigrants referred to the gold rush in Australia. Thompson’s paternal grandmother, Harriet Woods, is a direct descendant of the Chinese migrants who immigrated during the Victorian gold rush in the early 1850s. This lineage guides us to his current work and shows how the past creates his new inspiration.’
Saville Coble is a Naarm/Melbourne-based photographer from King Island, lutruwita/Tasmania who works across commercial and art photography.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024 celebrates established and emerging artistic talent from across the country.
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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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