© 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 2007 Finalist
This portrait is of Chris Womersley and our ten-week-old son Reuben. While our newborn son was growing fleshier and livelier by the day, my husband Chris seemed to grow thinner and older at the same alarming rate. The contrast between their faces - one all innocent and light, the other shell-shocked and weary - is highlighted by the connotations of Chris's Jolly Roger tattoo. The three-way focus is also interesting. While the skull eyeballs the lens, father and son glance off in different directions, both captured in a moment of glassy-eyed contemplation.
Photography is the most pervasive and popular medium for portraiture and makes a natural fit with the Gallery, being a natural extension of the Gallery's longstanding commitment to photography as a contemporary portrait medium.
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