By Callum Ludwig
The Yarra Ranges Regional Museum will be the only Victorian showing of the finalists for the National Photographic Portrait Prize (NPPP) 2022.
The photographs will be on display during the museum opening hours from Friday 9 June until Sunday 3 September.
Warburton photographer and former filmmaker Iván Gaal is a finalist in the 2022 award, having also been in 2013 and 2015, and said he was very happy to be accepted.
“Out of the 2500 entries, only 50 photographs are accepted so that in itself was a very good present for me,” he said.
“This year I worked with David Mendaue OAM, who contracted HIV over 40 years ago. I had lost contact with him and met up with him two years ago and thought he is looking well. I thought he had a lot of character on his face, showing the survival instinct that he has had for 40 years.”
The NPP has been running for 15 years, with entries coming in from amateur and professional photographers all over Australia.
Mr Gaal said he wanted to show the positive side of all the things David Menadue has done to survive in his work.
“I want people to see that HIV has been a terrible illness in the past but it is still with us today.
“Nowadays the survival rate is very good, medication is very good, the support they get from people and families and organizations is very good and I wanted to draw attention to people like David.”
One of Mr Gaal’s previous finalists in the NPPP was of late Warburton resident Ronnie Howard taken of him dancing in the Mechanics Hall at the Art Centre in Warburton in 2014. He died in 2016 just short of his 100th birthday and Mr Gaal’s portrait was on display at his funeral.
Mr Gaal said he compares the National Photographic Portrait Prize for photographers to the Archibald Prize (the most prestigious Australian award for paintings).
“I encourage everyone to come and see not just David Menadue in my work, but the 49 other great photographs as well,” he said.
“It’s a very thought-provoking exhibition, the photographs have more of a natural flow of life and it also has a lot of social realism in it where people capture their moments so to speak, and not many exhibitions accept that sort of work.”
The NPPP for 2022 was won by Wayne Quilliam with his work ‘Silent Strength’.
Director of Collection and Exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery Sandra Bruce was in town for the launch of the exhibition and to give guided tours on its first day and said one of the most fantastic things about it is that it’s always got such a broad range of Australian content.
“There are people who are well known as the subjects or ‘sitters’ and there are those who are well-loved family members, it really is about the diverse exploration of the Australian experience,” she said.
“It’s really great that some of the finalists this year are local too. One of the staff at the Portrait Gallery loves using this analogy of windows and mirrors. In some portraits you see a little bit of yourself reflected back because you have a connection with that person while others live in an entirely different world or space to you.”
