‘They’re going to see who I am’: Top shots from the National Photographic Portrait Prize

Our pick of National Photographic Portrait Prize finalists salutes the stoic, the stubborn, the singular and the strong.

Megan’s Place, 2024

Megan is my friend and neighbour. Her life blends the ordinary with the extraordinary. Against the backdrop of her traditional weatherboard house in regional Victoria, Megan stands stoically with one of her rescue camels while her daughter bounces energetically on the trampoline. This moment captures the elements of both domesticity and adventure that encapsulate her life. Rebecca Polonski

Thelma Plum, 2024

I made this picture with Gamilaraay musician Thelma Plum on Wilyakali Country last winter. The image was taken using a Rolleicord camera on the Mundi Mundi Plains near Broken Hill, where I live. We spent three days photographing throughout far west NSW, making a series of shots for Plum’s album I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back. Em Jensen

Sonny Jane Wise, 2025

My work is often playful, but also aims to challenge. Sonny Jane is a queer, non-binary, disabled and neurodivergent advocate and writer, who says their “defiant” tattoo is “a commitment to resist systems that pathologise our minds, bodies and queerness. When people look at me, they’re going to see who I am.” Bri Hammond

Untitled #01 (Code Black/Riot), 2024

Code Black/Riot is a collaboration with First Nations youths in far north Queensland, which interrogates a system that targets and imprisons them from the age of 10. The youths prefer to conceal their faces to avoid being identified. Hoda Afshar

The Sky, 2025

Grace Tame is extraordinary, devoting her life to advocating for survivors of child sexual abuse. There’s so much more to this portrait; a ripple on an ocean beneath that holds far more than it reveals. Stuart Spence

Britney and Kayleb, 2024

Kayleb paints up his partner, Britney, at the Waagan Galga Corroboree on Wonnarua Country [in the Hunter Valley, NSW]. Later, they dance together to display the depth of love and loss they have experienced. Culture is a powerful healer. Marcus Rowsell

Diamond in the Sky, 2024

As part of my series Deep Heat, I took this portrait “with” Antony Sinni, a non-binary friend and artist on Larrakia Land, Garramilla [in the Darwin region, NT]. I highlight “with” because making an image like this is both individual and deeply collaborative: experiencing what it is to be within a moment of vulnerability, connected by the sand, sky and the lens. In the series I use photography to explore my complex relationship with gender and masculinity, creating an opportunity for healing and evolution. Matt Sav

Self portrait collecting dust, 2025

This photo captures the intimate chaos of a life lived in one space, my childhood bedroom [in western Sydney], for 34 years. Surrounded by a tapestry of trinkets and the quiet clutter of everyday life, my self portrait reflects the intersection of nostalgia and the present. The disorder becomes a tangible reminder of time passing, of a personal history that clings to the space, the room itself as much a part of my identity as the person within it. Tom Zust

The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025 exhibition, featuring the 48 selected finalists, will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra from August 16 to October 12.

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