© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Uncommon Australians
Towards an Australian Portrait Gallery
Touring exhibition, 1992
In 1988 philanthropists Gordon and Marilyn Darling decided to make an Australian portrait gallery a reality, overseeing the development of the 1992 touring exhibition Uncommon Australians.
WHO ARE YOU
Australian portraiture
Previous exhibition, 2022
Featuring 130 works across painting, film, photography, screen printing, sculpture, and then some – it explores our inner worlds, outer selves, intimacy, isolation, celebrity and more.
The Reflecting Eye
Portraits of Australian Visual Artists
Touring exhibition, 1996
As the first National Portrait Gallery travelling exhibition, The reflecting eye: portraits of Australian visual artists represents an important milestone in the history of Australia's National Portrait Gallery.
Headspace 4
Facing Memory
Previous exhibition, 2003
Facing Memory: Headspace 4 provides us with valuable insights into the thoughts, creative processes and art-making practices of secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 from sixty-two schools in the Australian Capital Territory, regional New South Wales and Victoria
Carte-o-mania!
Previous exhibition, 2018
Drawn from the NPG’s burgeoning collection of cartes de visite, Carte-o-mania! celebrates the wit, style and substance of the pocket-sized portraits that were taken and collected like crazy in post-goldrush Australia.
Between Light and Shadow
Portraits by Stuart Campbell
Previous exhibition, 2011
The late Australian photographer Stuart Campbell produced superb photographs of Australian actors of stage and screen.
Starstruck
Australian Movie Portraits
Previous exhibition, 2017
Striking, beautiful portraiture comes out of the most thoroughly documented creative process there is – filmmaking. In a ground-breaking collaboration the National Portrait Gallery and National Film and Sound Archive invite you into this captivating realm between real and fictional worlds.
Recognition
Percy Leason's Aboriginal Portraits
Previous exhibition, 1999
Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture
Nolan Heads
Previous exhibition, 2001
Nolan Heads will focus on the portraiture of one of Australia's most original painters and one of the few to have achieved an international reputation
Proof
Portraits from The Movement 1978-2003
Previous exhibition, 2003
Portraits from The Movement is the first comprehensive survey of photographs from the Juno Gemes archive, which has supported the Aboriginal struggle for justice in Australia from 1978 to the present day.
Idle Hours
Previous exhibition, 2009
Idle hours is an exhibition of luxurious beauty. Paintings, prints and drawings represent subjects in quiet moods and situations arranged according to the time of day they depict - reading, drawing, snoozing, bathing, sewing, gardening, sitting, looking, making love and spending tranquil time with companions. Works in the exhibition range from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present.
Mark Strizic
A Journey in Photography
Previous exhibition, 2004
This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.
Mysterious eyes
Arthur Boyd portraits from 1945
Previous exhibition, 2016
Boyd’s self-portrait at age 25 is joined by his equally emotive portraits of those around him.
National Youth Self Portrait Prize
NYSPP 2010
Previous exhibition, 2010
An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.
Thousand Mile Stare
Portrait photography by John Elliott
Previous exhibition, 2004
Thousand mile stare provides a unique portrait of people of rural Australia
Mirror With A Memory
Photographic Portraiture in Australia
Previous exhibition, 2000
This is the first major exhibition to examine photographic portraiture in Australia, from its beginnings in the early 1840s to the present day