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Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
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National Photographic Portrait Prize 2013 Finalist
This portrait is of a resident of St Kilda's notorious Gatwick Private Hotel. Here, a self-conscious resident stands with a blanket covering their face and upper body, standing as photographers themselves used to when they would stand under a black cloth to better see through the camera lens. The hotel owner states: ‘Most [residents] keep to themselves, stay in their room or go about their business without bothering anyone...Most of the residents you wouldn't know existed.’ The work takes place in a context where anonymity and retreat from social dialogue are connected to social inequality.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries that reflect the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.
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