A National Portrait Gallery Exhibition
Now in its 18th year, the National Photographic Portrait Prize supports and celebrates photographic portraiture in Australia. Each year the prize attracts thousands of entrants from emerging and established artistic talent across the country. In 2025, the judges – writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law, Senior Curator at the National Portrait Gallery Serena Bentley, and Leigh Robb, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia selected 48 finalists from a field of more than 1400 entries.
Featuring famous faces and everyday Australians, the prize celebrates the vitality and diversity of photographic portraiture in Australia and invites us into the intimate world of a subject/artist relationship and provides a powerful visual record of the year, reflecting a particular time in Australian culture, both socially and artistically.
This exhibition is supported by the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to the national collections for all Australians.
Em JENSEN, Thelma Plum 2024, National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025 Finalist. © Em Jensen
Join us for the official opening on Friday 16 October, with special guest Rebecca Blake, Assistant Curator at the National Portrait Gallery. Rebecca, a curator and writer based in Kamberri/Canberra is joining us to speak about the exhibition and the stories behind the portraits.
Rebecca will also be available throughout the evening in the Gallery, giving guests a rare opportunity to meet the curator behind the exhibition and ask questions about the works, the artists and the process of bringing the National Photographic Portrait Prize together.
be there for the first look
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025 Exhibition opening
Friday 16 October
