© National Portrait Gallery 2025
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Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
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Living Memory Finalist
Max James stands in the creek on his charred Wangarabell property. He knows this bush intimately – the birds, grasses, insects and marsupials, even individual trees. A couple of days after the fires, sitting on his verandah surrounded by the silence, he heard the screech of a king parrot. Taking out his notepad he quickly jotted it down, beginning a list. It was the list that heralded the start of the healing process. At the time of the photo, Max said 'All has been erased. Nature has to come back through a black, blank canvas. It's a lamentable game of survival, but beautiful to watch.'
Courtesy of the artist
© The artist
The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.
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