The Percivals 2024

THE PERCIVALS 2024

Published on the occasion of

THE PERCIVALS 2024

22 June – 1 September 2024

Publisher

Galleries, Townsville City Council

PO Box 1268

Townsville QLD 4810

Australia

galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au

© Galleries, Townsville City Council, and the respective artists and/or authors 2024

ISBN: 978-0-949461-63-6

Publication design

Tara Henderson

Publication editor

Evie Franzidis

Organised by

Townsville City Galleries

Galleries Team

Holly Arden Galleries Director

Jo Lankester Senior Exhibitions and Collections Officer

Veerle Janssens Collection Management Officer

Michael Favot Exhibitions Officer

Zoe Seitis Exhibitions Assistant

Chloe Lausen Curatorial Assistant

Rachel Cunningham Senior Education and Programs Officer

Jonathan Brown Education and Programs Officer

Ashleigh Peters Education and Programs Officer

Tanya Tanner Senior Public Art Officer

Rhiannon Mitchard Public Art Officer

Maddie Bleakley Customer Service Officer

Crysania Gadd Customer Service Officer

Saraima Batt Customer Service Officer

Taylor Sopronick Gallery Assistant

Karla Destéfani Gallery Assistant

Deanna Nash Team Leader Business Support

Sue Drummond Business Support Officer

Emma Hanson Business Support Officer

Rachael Devescovi Business Support Officer

Front cover

Marco Pennacchia

Reverie (detail) 2024

Portrait of Krystel Costantini Oil on canvas

181 x 121 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

Back cover

Minami Ivory Battlefield (detail) 2023

Portrait of Minami Ivory Pigment ink-jet print

84 x 59 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery

Cnr Denham and Flinders St

Townsville QLD 4810

Tue–Fri 10am – 5pm Sat–Sun 10am – 1pm

(07) 4727 9011

galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au

whatson.townsville.qld.gov.au

Townsville City Galleries

TownsvilleCityGalleries

Acknowledgements

Townsville City Council acknowledges the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun, Bindal, Gugu Badhun and Nywaigi as the Traditional Owners of this land. We pay our respects to their cultures, their ancestors, and their Elders – past and present – and all future generations.

FOREWORD

Townsville City Galleries is delighted to present The Percivals 2024 exhibition, featuring 86 outstanding artworks across three categories in painting, photography and the depiction of animals. It is our pleasure to continue the legacy of this biennial competition under the guidance of our new director, Dr Holly Arden, who has brought her unique vision and expertise to the exhibition. We are extremely thankful to our Galleries team, who have worked tirelessly to bring this exhibition to fruition. We also thank our esteemed panel of pre-selection judges for committing their experience and many hours of their time to selecting finalists, and to the judges who will decide this year’s winners.

The Percival Portrait Painting Prize began in 2007 and continues to be Northern Australia’s premier portrait prize. We are thrilled that the prize showcases the best artists from our region and the state of Queensland, as well as from across Australia.

We hope that this publication will both serve as a testament to the exceptional talent of each featured artist and inspire future generations of artists to explore the art of portraiture, which has a centuries-old history and continues to inspire complex contemporary responses. We extend our congratulations to all the artists and thank them for their contributions to this wonderful exhibition.

Townsville City Galleries

A MESSAGE FROM THE ACTING MAYOR

I am thrilled to open The Percivals art exhibition, which promises to be a spectacular showcase of artistic talent. The exhibition encompasses the Percival Portrait Painting Prize, the Percival Photographic Portrait Prize, and the Percival Animal Portrait Prize. In 2024 we received a remarkable number of submissions, totalling over 400 entries.

This number is testament to the national significance of The Percivals and reflects Townsville’s reputation as the arts and culture capital of Northern Australia. Council is committed to growing this city and this region as a major hub that both produces and welcomes art and cultural tourism.

We are proud to have had an esteemed selection panel that expertly shortlisted the painting and photographic prizes. This year, our overall painting prize judge is Bradley Vincent, former Head of Curatorial and Programs at HOTA Gallery, and our overall photographic prize judge is the internationally renowned artist Tony Albert. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the judges for their invaluable contributions to shortlisting and awarding the $40,000 painting and $10,000 photographic prizes.

I extend my warmest congratulations to all the artists whose works are displayed in the exhibition. I encourage you to attend this incredible exhibition and support our talented artists.

Sincerely,

Cr Paul Jacob Acting Mayor of Townsville

AWARD CATEGORIES

Percival Portrait Painting Prize

$40,000 (acquisitive)

Percival Photographic Portrait Prize

$10,000 (acquisitive)

People’s Choice Award, Painting

$1,000

People’s Choice Award, Photographic

$1,000

People’s Choice Award, Animal

$1,000

SELECTION PANEL MEMBERS

Painting Prize Panel

Donna Foley

Dr Donna Foley, an arts educator for more than two decades, studied painting, printmaking and drawing at undergraduate level, and at various times throughout her career has produced portraits in each of those artforms. Two such portraits are in the collection of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery.

Alison Kubler

Alison Kubler has a double major in Art History from the University of Queensland, Australia, and a Master’s in Post-War and Contemporary Art History from Manchester University, England. She has over 25 years’ experience as a curator in museums and galleries in Australia, and on major public art commissions.

Alison worked as Arts Adviser to the Federal Minister for the Arts and Sport, held full-time curatorial positions at QUT Art Museum and Gold Coast City Art Gallery, and worked as Associate Curator, at the University of Queensland Art Museum. She is a standing member of the Second Chance Programme, a volunteer-run charitable organisation that was founded in 2001 to support

homeless and at-risk women and children in crisis care by offering long-term accommodation and domestic violence shelters all over Queensland.

Alison is Editor in Chief of VAULT, a journal of art and culture, and a regular contributor to art magazines and journals. She is a Member of the Council of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Chair of the Collections Committee of the NGA, Committee Member of Know My Name, and is a Principal of Renshaw & Kubler Art Consultants. Alison is also co-author of Art and Fashion in the Twentieth Century, published by Thames and Hudson UK (2013), which was subsequently translated into German and Japanese.

Teho Ropeyarn

Teho Ropeyarn is a Cairns-based printmaker, curator and mentor from Injinoo, Cape York Peninsula. Teho graduated from College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, in 2009, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and drawing. He previously held the position of gallery curator at UMI Arts and Cairns Art Gallery. Selected exhibitions as curator include North by East West: Re-igniting a Cultural Connection Through Pearl Shell (2018) at Cairns Art Gallery, co-curated with CIAF’s Artistic Director Janina Harding; and Goobalathaldin Dick Roughsey: Stories of this Land (2019) at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), co-curated with QAGOMA Curator of Indigenous

Australian Art, Bruce Johnson McLean. Teho’s work has appeared in exhibitions across Australia and abroad, such as The National 4: Australian Art Now, Carriageworks, Sydney (2023); rīvus: 23rd Biennale of Sydney (2022); Queen Sonja Print Award, Norway (2022); Nuit Blanche, Toronto (2022); Tarnanthi 2021, Art Gallery of South Australia (2021); GOMA-Q, QAGOMA (2015); Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (2012); and the 11th Nationwide Academies of Fine Arts Printmaking Biennial, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China (2012).

Photographic Prize Panel

Glen O’Malley

Glen O’Malley is Queensland’s longest exhibiting photographer, with his first exhibition at Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane, in 1975. He has had over 40 national and international solo exhibitions, and has shown in over 200 group exhibitions. In 2019/20, Perc Tucker Gallery showed a retrospective exhibition of his career, What Is A Dream? Glen has lived in North Queensland for 35 years, with continuing connections to the area all his life. He was one of nine artists in the 1981 inaugural exhibition at Perc Tucker Gallery. He describes his current work as ‘surreal documentary’.

Anouska Phizacklea

Anouska Phizacklea (BA Hons, MA, MCom, CPA, GAICD) is currently Director of the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh). Anouska has expertise across the visual, decorative, literary and performing arts as well as finance and organisational development. In 2023 she joined the board of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival (Treasurer). She has held senior management positions at leading Victorian public institutions, including Heide Museum of Modern Art and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), and worked for many years in art research and valuations in galleries and auction houses in Melbourne and

London. Since her appointment at MAPh, Anouska has curated group and single artist exhibitions with leading Australian practitioners, such as Tamara Dean’s Leave Only Footprints (2022); The Tucker Portraits (2020); Allusion & Illusion: The Fantastical World of Valerie Sparks (2018); and Robyn Stacey: As Still As Life (2018). She has also commissioned exhibitions such as STAGES: Photography through the Pandemic (2021); Portrait of Monash: The Ties That Bind (2020); and the major survey exhibition and publication of Anne Zahalka, ZAHALKAWORLD – An Artist’s Archive (2023).

Hamish Sawyer

Hamish Sawyer is a curator, writer and currently the Artistic Director of NorthSite Contemporary Arts in Gimuy/Cairns. His practice is informed by close collaboration with artists. Recent curatorial projects include Compositional Utterances, The Old Court House, Cairns (2024) and Sam Cranstoun: You Are Neither Here Nor There, University of Sunshine Coast (2023). Hamish was previously the interim Director of Outer Space, a not-for-profit contemporary arts organisation based in Meanjin/Brisbane. From 2016 to 2019, Hamish was Curator at the Caloundra Regional Gallery on Queensland’s

Sunshine Coast, where he organised exhibitions by artists including Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Elizabeth Willing, and Laith McGregor. Hamish also worked at the QAGOMA, serving as a co-curator for the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT8) in 2015.

PERCIVAL PRIZE JUDGES

Bradley Vincent

Bradley Vincent is an independent curator and writer based on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Most recently he served as the Head of Curatorial and Programs at HOTA Gallery, working on the preparations, opening and initial three years of exhibitions for the new gallery.

His projects at HOTA included the opening exhibition Solid Gold: Artists from paradise and debut international exhibition Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York. He commissioned projects with leading local and national artists and oversaw the development and delivery of Education and Public Programming across the gallery.

Prior to this he was co-director at Sydney’s influential, independent art space ALASKA Projects.

Painting Prize Judge

Photographic Prize Judge

Albert

Tony Albert is one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists with a longstanding interest in the cultural misrepresentation of Aboriginal people. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, his multidisciplinary practice considers the ways in which optimism might be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses crucial questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories?

Tony is acknowledged industry wide as a valued ambassador for Indigenous community and culture. He was recently announced as the inaugural Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow. He is the first Indigenous Trustee for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a member of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Indigenous advisory, a board member for the City of Sydney’s Public Art Panel and member of the Art & Place Board at the Queensland Children’s Hospital and in January 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Griffith University for his significant contribution to the arts.

Tony

FINALISTS

Christopher ALLERY

My Mother, Her Middle Name Is ‘Joy’ (detail) 2023

Portrait of Narelle Allery

Digital photographic print

59.4 x 42 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Choosing to take my mother’s portrait was an important way to celebrate her and the vital role she plays in our family. As she is an avid gardener, it made sense for my mother to be captured nestled among the flowers in her front yard. Life for her has always involved a tapestry of joy, hope, and humorous curiosity.

About the artist

Christopher Allery is an artist based in Naarm/ Melbourne. Through photography, Allery works to capture the atmosphere attached to spaces of personal relevance. Connections with the individuals associated with these environments often leads to meaningful portraiture. Making images embedded with a range of ambiguities has allowed Allery to embark on the journey contemplating among other themes: queer and cultural identity, religion, and spirituality. Allery has degrees in film and visual arts from QUT, Meanjin/Brisbane. In recent years, he has been a finalist in the Iris Award for Portraiture, and was Highly Commended in the 2022 Percival Photographic Portrait Prize.

Lisa ASHCROFT

Bereavement (Dad’s death mask on his death bed) (detail) 2023

Portrait of Mr Philip George Ashcroft

Oil on canvas

150 x 100 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

My father died last year. I arrived just an hour after his passing due to a flight delay.

As I stood by his bedside, his body still retained warmth, but his once gentle and serene face was now contorted and twisted, his body bent and buckled by the ravages of dementia. He was no longer the man I knew, stripped of his geniality and senses.

In that surreal moment, time seemed to slow down, enveloping us in a scene reminiscent of a Caravaggio painting. The room closed in around us, every detail magnified.

The pattern on the bedsheet resembled a tide of crucifixes, reminding me of his upbringing in a Catholic orphanage. Memories of his life achievements and accolades flooded my mind, mingling with the raw onset of grief.

My father, Philip Ashcroft, was immortalised in my mind’s eye as I witnessed his final moments. This painting captures the essence of his passing – a raw, honest portrayal that was emotionally wrenching to create.

About the artist

Lisa earned her BA in Fine Arts in the UK, pursued her postgraduate studies at Cyprus College of Art, and completed a Fellowship at New York School of Arts. With over 32 years of experience, she has served as an art practitioner and community workshop facilitator, delving into various educational themes, and pressing environmental concerns.

Ashcroft’s upcoming exhibitions for 2024–2025 encompass a diverse range of venues, including Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Artspace Mackay Residency, and Bundaberg Art Gallery. Additionally, she will unveil her latest creations this June at Murky Waters Studio, presenting a collection titled Pseudo Art: Kitsch, Trills, Sins, and Social Ills.

Christine BAKER

Rise (detail) 2023

Portrait of Christine Baker

Acrylic on canvas

90 x 90 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

The work is about playing it safe and keeping a regular job. The raincoat symbolises protection from the weather but also protection from taking a step into the unknown. The older figure at the top always wanted to be an artist but worked a regular job for security. The young adventurous soul always remained within and finally the older soul took the step to become an artist.

About the artist

Christine Baker worked for many years in the rural sector doing seasonal jobs, including shearing, working in vineyards and fruit picking, while also studying art part time at TAFE. When her children were grown up, she took the plunge into art and has had some success in painting and sculpture. She has been selected over the years in The Bunbury South West survey, City of Joondalup Art Prize, and was the overall winner at the Beverly, Bassendean, Plantagenet and Kondinin art prizes for painting.

Elizabeth BARDEN

All That Glitters (detail) 2022

Portrait of Rachel Burke

Oil on linen

60 x 56 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Rachel Burke is the effervescent multidisciplinary creative behind @imakeinstagram.

Her background in musical theatre informs her work. Her joyful designs have been an installation in The Museum of Brisbane and a collaboration with @fluevog incredible designer footwear. Celebrities such as Harry Styles and Beyonce’s daughter have rocked her designs.

All that glitters is not gold; behind every smile is a whole confetti toss of emotions.

A colourful façade can hide sensitivities, a dichotomy between the outer and inner. Wearing her heart on her puffy sleeve, Rachel finds ways to express feelings via light-up headbands, which in turn sparks conversations.

About the artist

Elizabeth Barden is a figurative artist, represented in the collection of the Australian National Portrait Gallery. Elizabeth currently lives and works in Gimuy/ Cairns, and she has been a finalist in major national and international exhibitions multiple times. Elizabeth has been a part of group shows nationally and internationally, and has held two solo exhibitions.

Alexandra BAXTER

Harry is a name with the son behind it (detail) 2023

Portrait of Harrison Baxter

Cyanotype and silk screen ink on Stonehenge

111.8 x 76.2 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This work is the first in a series of analogue photographic prints exploring Generation Z’s concern as targeted consumers of ‘vicarious nostalgia’. Employed by popular media, this nostalgia can predate the birth of the consumer – past the lived experience, and toward a fictional representation of various bygone eras. In the case of Gen Z, the first true digital natives, the invitation to engage in a past that offers authentic experience is a welcome one.

The work is critical of recent popular media that facilitates imagined nostalgia and observes the effect of this media on the present generation of youth. Focussing on mid-century America as one of vicarious nostalgia’s focal points, this work is concerned with the enduring presence of the mid-century Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and the impression he has stirred within his contemporary heir; the subject of this work.

About the artist

Alexandra Baxter is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based, Gurumbilbarra/Townsville-born artist who graduated from the Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) in December 2023. In her senior year of high school, Alexandra was awarded the Edna Shaw Prize for Fine Art and exhibited in Creative Generation’s Excellence in Visual Arts ArtNow, Pinnacles Gallery, Townsville (2016). Since moving to Meanjin, she has participated in several exhibitions, including Unpacked, Impress Gallery (2021) where she was awarded the Impress Printmakers Studio and Gallery Award; You can’t always get what you want: Amanda Bennetts and Alexandra Baxter, Webb Gallery within the Queensland College of Art (2022); and was a touring artist with the Queensland Regional Art Awards Reframe (2022–23), where she was awarded the Take Flight Award. Alexandra’s work is held in the collections of Griffith University Art Museum, State Library of Queensland, and private collections across Australia.

Dane BEESLEY

Umbrella Man (detail) 2024

Portrait of Benjamin Mackenzie

Digital photographic print

100 x 100 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

The sharp lines of his black suit speak of professionalism, yet their sombre hue betrays a deeper truth. The weight of expectation, the pressure to provide, and the expectation to succeed plague his mind. This is a portrait not just of an individual but of a system that demands conformity, leaving countless others navigating its labyrinthine paths in search of a place to belong.

About the artist

Dane Beesley is an Australian-born photographer based in Meanjin/Brisbane. After graduating from photography college in 2000, Beesley assisted a commercial photographer before starting his own freelance career. In mid-2000s he worked for News Ltd in Brisbane and then in Naarm/Melbourne. Beesley’s gritty style and unique approach to photography steered him away from newspapers and back into a freelance lifestyle, contributing to magazines such as Rolling Stone. Throughout it all, Beesley has continuously exhibited his work, published a book titled Splitting the Seconds: A Photographer’s Journal and produced an impressive portfolio of photography.

MJ BENTLEY

Portraits of Angus Cameron (detail) 2023

Portrait of Angus Cameron

Digital photographic print

119 x 84 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I first met gay playwright Angus Cameron in 2023 outside of a preview of one of his new plays, Dirt. He was pulling at the bottom of his shorts, anxiously eyeing the crowd. He said to me “I don’t care if they love it or if they hate it, I just want them to feel something.” When you first meet Angus, you meet this built, good-looking bald man with an intellectual mind and quick mouth. Even when he gets anxious, he doesn’t appear like he has lost control.

Angus’s plays form a stronghold of gay culture without operating like propaganda. His plays explore darker, underground club themes; they poke fun at gay elitists, and even occasionally touch upon real gay love. When you consider what it takes to become someone who produces a stronghold of gay culture that doesn’t hold back, Angus’s muscles, intellect, quick wit, and demeanour make sense.

Angus is the author of the play Australian Open, which played in Melbourne Theatre Company’s Cybec Electric season (2019) and was produced by bub at Kings Cross Theatre in 2020. Other plays include The Profit (Sydney Theatre Company’s 2017 Rough Drafts program), Cavemen (Stitch’s INK + winner of Midsumma Playtime award); On Behalf of Everyone Everywhere, part of a collection of short plays at Arts Centre Melbourne; Human Error, produced by Bakers Dozen; as well as several other works. In addition to these companies, he has worked with Simon Stephens, Australian Theatre for Young People, the Hellenic Festival, the Emerging Writers Festival and Small and Loud. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Theatre with Raimondo Cortese at the Victorian College of the Arts.

About the artist

MJ Bentley is an American–Australian photographic artist. She was awarded “Top 40 Emerging Portrait Photographer” by Capture Mag x Fujifilm in 2023. She won the Best Cinematography award at Visionnaire Film Festival 2018 for her work on the film Leech. She has exhibited as part of EAC, George Patton Gallery 2023, Midsumma 2024, and Queerthentic 2024. Her work has been published in both print and online publications. She is currently represented by Hunger Digital.

Catherine BLACK

Holly (detail) 2023

Portrait of Holly Durant

Digital photographic print

45 x 60 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Holly Durant is a multidisciplinary performance artist, based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is known for breaking boundaries and captivating audiences with immersive works, which can (sometimes) unfold over hours. Featuring custom-made glass artworks made by Ruth Allen, Holly bends and contorts her body, exploring the interaction against her skin.

These photographs are testament to Holly’s incredible form and rolling quest to celebrate the beauty of diverse human bodies through introspection and exploration. I invite you to take the time to settle into her portrait. Challenge, blur and dissolve all stereotypes and celebrate the beauty of Holly – or whoever it might be.

About the artist

Catherine Black is a freelance photographer with a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts, Deakin University (Major in Photography, 2005) and currently working in the advertising and lifestyle sector.

Among many personal projects, Catherine’s current focus is photographing portraits in environmental situations and highlighting human stories.

Recently selected as a finalist in The Martin Kantor Awards with Holly, Catherine has had works shown in Melbourne, Sydney, Dublin, New York City, and London.

Simon BROWN

Jamie (detail) 2022

Portrait of Jamie Preisz

Oil on linen

122 x 91 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

With this portrait of my dear friend and fellow artist Jamie Preisz, I aimed to convey a feeling of vulnerability. His facial expression speaks volumes, a moment captured with a sense of fragility, like the crumpled form that his image makes up on the canvas. Jamie, like many artists, no matter how strong and thick-skinned, becomes vulnerable when he opens himself up to criticism.

I owe much of my current knowledge and approach to my own artistic practice to Jamie, and I firmly believe he is not only an invaluable mentor to myself but also to many others.

About the artist

Simon Brown is based in Warrane/Sydney, where he graduated with a Diploma of Fine Arts in 2013. Simon has been included in numerous group exhibitions around Australia, and was recently the 2022 Brisbane Portrait Prize Salon des Refusés People’s Choice Winner.

Simon is drawn to the challenge of breaking down luminous layers in his works of realism and the notion that depth is lost in the transferral of photographic forms into a painted piece. Simon strives to capture and hold viewers’ attention and ultimately create a dialogue between himself and the audience.

Melanie CAPLE

Cash, Love and Onyx (detail) 2023

Portrait of Cash Savage

Oil and acrylic on timber panel

105.5 x 80 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I have been enamoured with Cash Savage’s raw, emotive and dynamic music since I stumbled across her band The Last Drinks, playing at the John Curtin in 2013.

Cash’s storytelling, energy and passion delivered through a queer lens is still like nothing else I’ve encountered. The band’s most recent album So This Is Love is brimming with complex emotions fused with wild violin and sweat, documenting a time of immense feeling and flux. Never shying away from tough and tender storytelling, Cash wears her heart on her sleeve and a beloved onyx ring on her finger.

As a fellow Gippsland-born artist who is now taking on the world, I wanted to capture Cash drenched in neon light and darkness as though she could be near a stage, with a subtle connection to home.

About the artist

Melanie Caple graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) and a Master of Arts Management, both with distinction, from RMIT.

Over the last decade, she has developed her practice to incorporate finely detailed oil paintings and largescale exterior murals. Examining our relationship with the botanical world around us, with a focus on immortalising a sense of place, Melanie uses native flora, colour and avian species to activate walls and canvases to draw attention to the fragility and vibrancy of our landscape.

Melanie has been commissioned to create public artworks in dozens of locations across Victoria, NSW and South Australia, working with local government bodies, commercial clients and on private commissions. She was a finalist in the 2022 and the 2019 KAAF Art Prize, and the 2023 Omnia Art Prize Melanie has also been a selected mural artist for Frankston’s Big Picture Festival in 2021 and 2022, and the Urban Canvas Mural Festival in Melbourne 2023.

Brian CASSEY

George at the Bus Stop – George Skeene OAM (detail) 2023

Portrait of George Skeene OAM

Archival digital photographic print

80 x 96 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Walking through Cairns, I noticed a character at a bus stop. I said “Hi”, exchanged some pleasantries, and asked if I may make a few portraits. He was fine with that, but his bus was arriving in a few minutes. I raced back a block to retrieve a respectable camera from the car and got back to George just in time to make a couple of frames before he got on his bus. As he boarded, he politely told me his name and said “Look it up on the internet.” A Google search found he is prominent Aboriginal Yirrganydji Elder, historian, author and Medal of the Order of Australia recipient Dr George Skeene OAM. Thank you, George!

About the artist

Born in London, Brian Cassey has been a photojournalist/photographer almost his entire life.

Based in Gimuy/Cairns, Brian has won numerous distinguished awards in Australia and around the planet. His work has also been exhibited widely around the world and even further afield: in 2021, three of his works were exhibited and projected ‘in space’ above the Earth by the British Journal of Photography’s “Portraits of Humanity”.

Brian was won the Nikon Walkley Portrait of the Year three times in the last decade, and was also a Finalist in the Walkley Press Photographer of the Year.

Brian has also been a Percival finalist in the last three editions.

Brian CASSEY

100 Years & 3 Weeks – Alf Neal OAM (detail) 2022

Portrait of Alf Neal OAM

Archival digital photographic print

94 x 64 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

One hundred years old, Yarrabah Aboriginal Elder and Order of Australia recipient Alf Neal sits with his threeweek-old great-great-grandson Kailan.

A former cane cutter, bush lawyer and activist, Alf was a leader in the fight for the 1967 referendum that resulted in Indigenous peoples’ historic recognition in Australia’s Constitution, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for “Service to the Aboriginal community and the Referendum Campaign”.

As Alf passed his centenary milestone, Australia was poised to vote again on national Indigenous issues, with the 2023 “Indigenous Voice To Parliament”. Sadly, Alf passed away with quiet dignity in May. He would have been displeased at the result.

I documented many years of Alf’s outstanding life over the decades, made his last images shortly before his death, and documented his funeral and interment on his beloved country Ngarrabullgan/Mount Mulligan.

About the artist

Born in London, Brian Cassey has been a photojournalist/photographer almost his entire life.

Based in Gimuy/Cairns, Brian has won numerous distinguished awards in Australia and around the planet. His work has also been exhibited widely around the world and even further afield: in 2021, three of his works were exhibited and projected ‘in space’ above the Earth by the British Journal of Photography’s “Portraits of Humanity”.

Brian was won the Nikon Walkley Portrait of the Year three times in the last decade, and was also a Finalist in the Walkley Press Photographer of the Year.

Brian has also been a Percival finalist in the last three editions.

Brian CASSEY

Last of the Trochus Divers – Albert ‘Boyo’ Ware (detail) 2023

Portrait of Albert ‘Boyo’ Ware

Archival digital photographic print

71 x 94 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Eighty-three-year-old Albert ‘Boyo’ Ware began his trochus diving career at the age of 15. He is now one of just a handful of Torres Strait and Aboriginal survivors of the trochus and pearl shell industries that dominated the northern Australian economy in the 1950s and 1960s.

Initially working trochus from small boats with a crew of four, Albert eventually progressed to diving for pearl shell from larger lugger boats after the bottom fell out of the trochus market.

Albert calls St Pauls on Moa Island in the Torres Strait ‘home’ despite his exploits as a Cape York stockman and stints working on the railways and roads of Far North Queensland.

I met Albert at the exhibition Lugger Bort that focused on “the working life of the Aboriginal, Torres Strait and South Sea Islanders who worked the pearling, Bechede-mer and trochus industries living on luggers in Far North Queensland”.

About the artist

Born in London, Brian Cassey has been a photojournalist/photographer almost his entire life.

Based in Gimuy/Cairns, Brian has won numerous distinguished awards in Australia and around the planet. His work has also been exhibited widely around the world and even further afield: in 2021, three of his works were exhibited and projected ‘in space’ above the Earth by the British Journal of Photography’s “Portraits of Humanity”.

Brian was won the Nikon Walkley Portrait of the Year three times in the last decade, and was also a Finalist in the Walkley Press photographer of the Year.

Brian has also been a Percival finalist in the last three editions.

Barbara CHESHIRE

The Man Under the Hat (detail) 2024

Portrait of Bob Katter

Oil on canvas

117 x 117 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Prior to interviewing Bob Katter, the only knowledge I had of this man was the negative comments the media printed and that perhaps he was a man of the land. However, talking to the folk from Northern and Western Queensland and with the man himself for a considerable time, a different and intriguing picture emerged. This active hands-on helper who looks out for Queensland has a wicked sense of humour and is smart as a whip. You only need to flip through the book he’s written to appreciate his knowledge. Although Bob tells it like it is despite the possible backlash, he is the longest-serving member of Parliament and an interesting subject to paint.

About the artist

Barbara Cheshire has a PhD, Master of Creative Arts, Graduate Diploma of Education, and Diploma of Art. Over the years, the context of her art practice has always been drawn towards the variations in life’s happenings through conceptual principles. However, with portraiture, her approach is also governed by her experience with and of the sitter in that she explores both their cultural and sensory perceptions about their life. Her application process is commenced by drawing a rough image of the subject in thin paint. The drawing is then properly evaluated, refined and improved until Barbara is happy with its strength. The metaphorical tones, colours, media and technique are then selected for the work and are chosen because they best symbolise for her the visual image and concept that she has of the whole person in her mind.

Ali CHOUDHRY

Richard – #1 (detail) 2023

Portrait of Richard

Photographic print

100 x 125 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

With the advent of smartphone cameras, and now also AI, we live in a world that is increasingly quickened, where everything happens five seconds ago. Counter to this digital way of thinking is the analogue and analogue techniques. Film photography, especially large-format photography, asks for a sitter and photographer to engage in a very slowed-down, collaborative process.

About the artist

Ali Choudhry is an artist and researcher based in Naarm/Melbourne. He uses photography and critical theory to create works which engage with themes of agency, subject–object relations, and power. He is currently pursuing a PhD, and his research utilises creative techniques including video, archive, and computer vision to answer the question: How can contemporary surveillance be better understood conceptually through the creation of artworks?

Michael CHRISTOFAS

Portrait of Voula (detail) 2022

Portrait of Voula Manousaki

Digital photographic/giclée print

83 x 59 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Over the last couple of years, I’ve spent a significant amount of time in the country of my grandparents. It has had a profound impact on me as an artist and a person of Greek descent. In June 2022, I was in the town of Heraklion on the island of Crete. By chance, I discovered the studio of Voula Manousaki. She invited me in to spend time with her. I visited her in her studio over the coming days spending several hours with her on each occasion. Still practising well into her late 70s, Voula is one of the most acclaimed hagiographers throughout Crete, Greece, and globally. Her works hang in churches, galleries and private collections around the world. I felt a deep connection with Voula as a fellow Greek, her artistic passion and her creativity. This portrait is part of a photo essay of an inspirational person and artist.

About the artist

Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Michael Christofas has a passion for people-based photography, which has seen him focus more on environmental portraiture. His images have been described as raw and emotive, showing a true connection between artist and subject. These portraits can often reveal an alternate character that highlights identity and honesty.

Michael has an Advanced Diploma of Photography (2007), and has held several solo exhibitions, with recent examples including Persona: Contemporary Veteran Artists (Queens Hall at Parliament House, Melbourne & Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns, 2022–23); and Faces of India (Gallery at City Library, Melbourne Victoria, 2017).

Selected group exhibitions include Antipodean Palette (Steps Gallery, Melbourne, 2023); Lost Homelands (Steps Gallery, Melbourne, 2022); and Changed Forever: Legacies of Conflict (The Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne, 2022).

Jamie COLE

Because I’m Me (Does that make me crazy?) (detail) 2024

Portrait of Jamie Cole

Acrylic on canvas

90 x 90 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

In 2020, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Type II Disorder. This came about after 25 years of misdiagnosis and failed experimentation with different antidepressant medications.

I decided to turn my back on Western medications and instead turned to my studio as my safe space and my art practice for my therapy.

In creating my self-portrait (Because I’m Me), I wanted to express the thought process of my Bipolar experiences, the depressive lows, and the manic highs. Referencing and contrasting the torment and torture as seen in Picasso’s Guernica with Disney’s “the happiest place on earth” in a world of smiley face emoji. Buried among this chaos, my face and my hand emerge. My eye draws the viewer in. My hands, my eyes and my art practice guide me through my Bipolar journey and illustrate a side of my mental health experiences not many get to see.

About the artist

Jamie Cole is an Australian urban pop artist based in Gimuy/Cairns. Cole creates beautiful, quirky, and vibrant paintings, with a social or political message. His instantly recognisable pastiche style of acrylic and mixed media work is influenced by his love and respect for the Pop Art movement. His background in photography, illustration and graphic design provided the perfect training for his urban pop creations.

These influences leap from Cole’s canvases today.

The early part of his professional career was spent teaching at the front of the art classroom and behind the camera. Cole returned to painting as therapy in 2011 and discovered there was an appreciative audience for his work, when his first solo show, a fundraiser for the Randwick Children’s hospital, sold out.

Cole has been practicing art full-time since 2013 and over this time has presented more than 20 solo and group exhibitions in public and private galleries in Sydney, Wollongong, Kiama and Cairns.

Eva COLLINS

Proxy Tears (detail) 2023

Portrait of Eva Collins

Digital photographic print

30.5 x 40.6 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

While washing his shop-front window, my friend told me a heart-wrenching story about his recent family loss. The video camera was on, on the other side of the window, pointing at me as we were planning to do a shoot shortly afterwards.

I was listening to him, holding back my tears.

The running water, I feel, is doing the crying for me.

About the artist

Polish-born Eva Collins is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist. She holds Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, and one in Fine Art Photography, as well as a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art.

Eva writes poetry, works in photography and short performance videos. Her video work Howl represented the RMIT Art School at PICA National Graduate Show in Perth in 2017 and her videos were shown in international festivals, some winning awards.

She has exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, Monash Gallery of Art, and Melbourne Museum among others. She won the Inaugural Nikon Prize, 2005, Best Fine Print at Centre of Contemporary Photography and has been shortlisted in The Percivals, Moran and Olive Cotton and the National Photographic Portrait Prizes.

Her verse memoir Ask No Questions was published in 2022 for which she was shortlisted for the Children’s Book of the Year and the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards

Daniella CORTIS

Alex (detail) 2023

Portrait of Alex Dawes

Digital photographic print

47 x 59 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This photograph is about my son Alex’s brain injury and about invisible disabilities. Alex lives with an acquired brain injury from an accidental fall when he was 16. His brain surgery scar has faded with time and is hidden under his thick dark hair. We shaved Alex’s hair for this image.

About the artist

Daniella is a stay-at-home mum and a carer for her son, Alex. She is an enthusiastic amateur photographer and usually photographs pets and any wild birds who visit her garden. Daniella lives in Coogee, NSW. She completed a degree in fine arts late last century, majoring in painting.

Thom CROWHURST

Stand Easy (self portrait) (detail) 2024

Portrait of Thom Crowhurst

Oil and charcoal on canvas

121 x 92 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

“Stand easy” is a commonly used term in the military to take a sanctioned break, or more formally, as a parade command to assume a more relaxed posture. Either way, it is widely used simply to mean “relax”. The irony of the term is that due to the nature of military life, relaxation is very hard to come by and one cannot stand easy until long after their military service has ended.

The identity of the sailor in this portrait, though being a self-portrait, is deliberately ambiguous. It is meant to represent all military personnel, and the stressors and trauma bought about by their military service.

About the artist

Thom Crowhurst is a multidisciplinary artist who specialises in painting. Following his travels around the globe as well as five years in the Royal Australian Navy, he has re-entered the public art sphere to showcase his striking oeuvre to new audiences. He recently completed a six-month artistic residency based in Glasgow, UK, where he hosted his first solo show, comprising over 100 works completed during the period. He is now based in Ngambri/Canberra, making work out of his private studio in Fyshwick.

Claire B. CUSACK

Matthew (detail) 2024

Portrait of Matthew Wimhurst, Alice Cusack, Victoria Cusack

Oil on canvas

76 x 61 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This is a portrait of love, but also of sorrow and pain. It is a tribute to my brother Matthew, who has faced many challenges, from a learning disability to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, from a heart attack to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Now in palliative care, he relies on a machine to breathe. He is a fighter, a survivor, a hero.

My daughters Alice and Victoria adore their uncle and share a special bond. They have seen him struggle and suffer, but also smile and laugh. They have learned the value of life and the power of love. They are his angels, his joy, his hope.

This is a portrait of us, a family that has been through so much, but still stands together. We have cried many tears for Matthew, but we also celebrate his life and spirit. We are inspired by his strength and resilience. We are grateful for his love.

Matthew passed away on Sunday, 7 April 2024 – I am honoured to have had Matthew as my big brother.

About the artist

Claire Cusack loves to capture her surroundings and paint contemporary portraits of people and places in her life. Faces fascinate her; different expressions, the way eyes capture certain emotions or just the slight tilt of a head can say so much. Claire won first place in Silver is Gold COTA ACT Art competition in 2021 and 2022, and has been a finalist in a number of art competitions, including the Gallipoli Art Prize (2023) and The Percivals (2022). Through her art, Claire seeks to capture the beauty and complexity of the world around us. Claire believes that art has the power to inspire, uplift, and connect people. Claire’s work seeks to be testament to the power of creativity and the human spirit.

Maria DE LOS ANGELES PENA

Carmen in Boots (detail) 2024

Portrait of Carmen Bright

Oil on linen

91 x 61 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Carmen, my wife, is my buffer against the wider community. In our relationship, she comes across as the boss. But there is a painful vulnerability behind the complex system of signifiers of power that she presents to the world: her clothing, blonde hair, blue eyes, boisterousness, and physical presence as a tall, voluptuous European woman. As her partner, I am privy to her wounded side. But when I started her portrait, I was only showing the surface. During the process, I suddenly touched on her pain and discomfort. She bravely allowed me to reveal her inner self. Now, I am inviting the viewer to make the connection that women, in general, must resort to this armour to get along in the world. We hide our vulnerable selves behind our bravado, and we show ourselves only to those whom we trust.

About the artist

Born 1964 in El Salvador, Maria de Los Angeles Pena arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1984 and is currently based in Djiru Country, Mission Beach, Queensland. Starting with a love of comic books, Maria is a self-taught artist and has been a self-employed illustrator and storyboard artist since 1989. Maria has lectured on storyboarding at the Victorian College of the Arts and produced training materials for that institution.

Over the years, Maria has participated in numerous exhibitions. Selected group exhibitions include Mission Arts 10th Anniversary Awards (Highly Commended, 2021), Comix Creatrix Australia (Liverpool Library, 2016), Hispanic-American Artists: Cultural Legacy (Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, 1996), and The Graphic Art of Contemporary Comics (The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, 1991).

Kerrie DI CATALDO

Twin Peaks (detail) 2023

Portrait of Gwen Ferry

Digital photographic print

75 x 50 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

The concept for the three images submitted [to The Percivals] arose from a project connected with a compelling portraiture course at the Perth Centre for Photography. The sitter, Gwen, was chosen as she undertook a major change in her life following the death of her 100-year-old mum and the subsequent sale of the family home. After moving on to a new abode and leaving old memories behind, adjusting to new surroundings with positivity prevails. The three images represent a new era, a presence within while encapsulating memories past, and a portrait with fig, symbolising wisdom and success. The use of colour in these somewhat quirky images maintains a flow and connection with the personality of the sitter.

About the artist

Kerrie Di Cataldo has an Associate Dip. Arts (photography major). In her practice encompassing both film and digital techniques, Kerrie is interested in the emotional response and feeling generated by the photographic medium. Time, place and memory converge. The power of an image to attract, carry a message, and, in turn, invoke a lasting impression upon the viewer, is paramount.

Kerrie has been a finalist in numerous awards and has exhibited in many group shows. Select examples include International Monochrome Awards, USA (Honourable Mention x 4, 2021), Rockingham Art Award, WA (Finalist, 2019, 2021), Percival Photographic Portrait Prize, Townsville (Finalist, 2018, 2020, 2022), Minnawarra Art Awards (Finalist 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021), York Photographic Awards (Creative) (Highly commended, 2017, winner 2012), City of Gosnells Photographic Award (joint winner, 1998), Town of Vincent Photographic Award (winner, 1997). Her work is held in several private and public collections.

Sofie DIEU

Born In Swamps II (detail) 2024

Portrait of Sofie Dieu

Digital photographic print

53 x 30 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

My practice intertwines cathartic and spiritual strategies to help me reconnect to my ancestral land. Born in Picardie, on the border of France and Belgium, I have lived as an immigrant for 20 years. Through performance, video projection and photography, I investigate my Belge Gaulish traditional ecological knowledge.

Born In Swamps II lies at the intersection of ecofeminism and alternative ethnobotany. I perform soft sculptures of aquatic plants endemic to my native land. I wander with them in photo projection of the Picardie swamps where I virtually immerse myself in the junglelike forests of my childhood. As an invisible bridge that links me to my roots is created, my practice becomes cure to my longing.

This yearning for one’s ‘home’ is not an isolated experience; 30% of Australia’s population are immigrants and refugees. My work acknowledges this displaced population and in particular the women who are the glue of this/my community.

About the artist

In 2016, Sofie Dieu graduated from Montpellier III University with a Master of Visual Art and Contemporary Practice. She currently teaches design theory at Monash University.

Sofie’s collaborations include working with the Black Dog Institute of Sydney, Multicultural Women Victoria, as well as local councils across Australia. Her major projects include Longing for Home (2019–2022) and Sacred Plants, Our Ancestors’ Legacy (2022–2023) involving the immigrant and refugee women community living around Melbourne. Her photo and video exhibitions have toured New South Wales and Victoria. In 2023, she became a recipient of the highly coveted Creative Victoria’s grant program, the Creative Project Fund.

Sofie has been a finalist in and won many art prizes. She is regularly invited to take part in residency programs in Australia and overseas. Her work has been published in Australia and can be found in private and public international collections.

Sylvia DITCHBURN

Ditchy (detail) 2023

Portrait of Adrian Ditchburn

Acrylic and graphite on canvas

150 x 120 cm

Photographer: Ken Ditchburn

About the artwork

This portrait is of my son Adrian. I selected Adrian because I liked his laughing face in this pose. The open mouth and smiling face created a tangible reference to his personality, which I was able to capture. I was inspired by Andy Warhol’s artwork of Mick Jagger with the use of flat surface painting.

About the artist

Dr Sylvia Ditchburn (DipFA, G.Dip MusCur, MCA, PhD) enjoys the challenge of portraiture, and has been a finalist in The Percivals many times. Essentially painting en plein air, she travels widely in Australia – from Townsville to Broome, Alice to Adelaide, and beyond – in search of subjects for her art. With her many qualifications, Sylvia has judged many art exhibitions herself, and has worked as a workshop tutor in Townsville, Cairns, Perth, Norfolk Island, and more.

Sylvia has held residencies at Arthur Boyd’s famous property Bundanon; Sails in the Desert Resort, Uluru; Tree Tops, Port Douglas; and Redgate Gallery, Beijing, China. She has held over 55 solo exhibitions in Australia, Russia, China, and New York, and participated in group shows in Berlin, London, Paris, and Budapest. Commissioned for Hotel Foyers Townsville, her work is held in public and private collections nationally and internationally.

Mark DOBER

Self portrait (detail) 2024

Portrait of Mark Dober

Oil on canvas

50 x 40 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This work was made in the studio while looking in the mirror. My painting, whether landscape or portraiture, is grounded in observation. I paint with directness and immediacy. I seek to express a sense of myself in interaction with the subject: the work is as much about the experience of seeing as it is of what is seen. A sense of the experiential and the lived moment features in all of my work.

Mostly, my portraiture is of myself – as I am available. I also paint my wife with our cat.

About the artist

Mark Dober is an established artist, who holds a PhD in Painting from Monash University. The focus of his art practice lies in making paintings and drawings on site in the landscape, both locally (central Victoria) and at residencies.

He regularly holds solo exhibitions of landscape painting at regional galleries: in recent years, these have been at Geelong, Mildura, Wagga Wagga, Windsor (Sydney), Castlemaine, Warwick, Bathurst, Swan Hill, Tuggeranong, Wodonga and Benalla.

Mark’s portrait painting is made directly from the subject. The work is made to be shown in contemporary art prizes (most recently in the Salon des Refusés in Sydney and the Rick Amor Self Portrait Prize in Melbourne).

Laurel FOENANDER

Give Peace a Chance - Wolfie (detail) 2022

Portrait of Wolfie August Tyrell

Oil on linen

102 x 76 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

My grandson Wolfie was born four days before the invasion of Ukraine, and the light of our lives has coexisted with the news and images of unimaginable violence and horror.

In 2023, the horror was compounded by the terrible wars in Israel and Gaza, and by famine and climaterelated un-natural disasters. It seems obvious but overlooked that every child is as unique and precious as our own.

No one needs an artist to describe in words the state our planet is in, so I’ve painted this little man-of-thefuture, with hope that his generation will hold it in safer hands than ours.

About the artist

Laurel Foenander has worked as a contemporary realist painter for 30 years, often interweaving surrealist or abstract elements with detailed realism to evoke the feeling of place or the character of birds and animals.

Recent career highlights have included several national finalist selections: The Percivals (2022); the Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2022); Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize (2019); ANL Maritime Award (2019/21); the Norvill Landscape Prize (2012); Destination Daintree (2012); and ARC Yinnar Drawing Prize (2012, 2014, 2016).

She was the winner of the 2021 Maritime Art Award.

Cutler FOOTWAY

My Self at Seventeen, with Lily, Coral, Shells and Heart (detail) 2023

Portrait of Bruce James (Cutler Footway)

Acrylic on board

60 x 60 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This work began is a realist record of myself, aged 71. Although unfazed by my decaying features, I carved back into the surface to reclaim my youthful self, aged 17. In thus reversing the passage of time, the portrait asserts itself (self!) as a token of the power of art to transform, even to deceive. Magical and diabolic at once, the fleshy red organ I press to my chest evokes that mainstay of Catholic symbology – the Sacred Bleeding Heart of Jesus. Such were the religio-artistic fantasies of a young painter in Far North Queensland in the early 1970s. The lily, coral and shells are almost signatory subjects I have painted for decades. Here, they appear as though in a fictive painting hung behind the figure. Considering all the foregoing, the work functions as an example of conceptualism as well as portraiture.

About the artist

A former art critic (as Bruce James), Cutler Footway resumed full-time painting in 2003. He has held three museum exhibitions in the last five years, featuring landscapes, interiors, still life, portraits and figural studies, all reflecting the life and people of the Juru/ Bindal Burdekin district, where the artist was born. In 2020, Cutler won the Percival Portrait Painting Prize with a study of queer performer Jack Betteridge. Life drawing and portraiture are Cutler’s preferred genres. His art-historical touchstones are Mannerism and Post-Impressionism, as well as the work of Australians Grace Cossington Smith and Margaret Preston. He never uses photographic references; his subjects pose in the flesh. Cutler situates them in wetland and cane-field vistas, or, as here, in his studio, to root them unambiguously in the delta environs. Cutler’s work is held in Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Rockhampton Museum of Art, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, and in private collections in Sydney, London, and New York.

Mark FORBES

Aimee (detail) 2023

Portrait of Aimee Hodgkinson

C-type photographic print

40 x 40 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

At the time this portrait was taken, Aimee was a DemiSoloist with the Victorian State Ballet.

Aimee was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and started dancing at the age of four. Sadly, she was forced to retire from ballet due to injury not long after this image was made.

I have always had an interest not only in the grace and poise of ballerinas but also their unending dedication, drive and persistence. They have an incredible ability to be so effortless and composed, performing movements that require such strength, balance, timing and intense practice to perfect.

The image was commissioned by the Bayside City Council and is part of a series taken at the Billilla Historic Mansion in Brighton, Victoria.

About the artist

Mark Forbes is best known for his considered and atmospheric documentary photography of street scenes, urban landscapes and structures. He employs film as his medium of choice for personal documentary work – using predominantly traditional medium format cameras.

Mark’s approach to photography comes from an underlying fascination with people and their interaction with the environment. He has an uncanny knack of bringing personality to the ordinary.

Mark’s photographs have been exhibited throughout Australia at public and commercial galleries, notably including Caloundra Regional Gallery, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, CCP, Footscray Community Arts Centre, PCP, Manly Art Gallery, Montsalvat, Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, Tweed Regional Gallery, VAC Gallery and the Wyndham Art Gallery.

He has been a winner and finalist in many renowned art prizes, and his limited-edition prints and books are held in public and private collections, in Australia and internationally.

Nicholas GIOIA

Egyptian Grammar (detail) 2023

Archival digital photographic print on Canson photo rag 42 x 59.4 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This sitter was selected because he is a truly extraordinary man.

He spends entire days in the library and reads one book and one book only – Egyptian Grammar by Alan Gardiner. This is a study of hieroglyphics. It is conceptually a very difficult work to contend with, but despite the fact that he is not a trained linguist nor an Egyptologist, his understanding of the subject is supposedly deep and wide.

Nobody ever seems to talk to him as he is so engrossed in and mesmerised by the book that he appears to exist in another world. Further, because of his poor eyesight, he holds the heavy tome barely millimetres from his eyes.

The artwork concept is simple: to capture the intensity and ‘remoteness’ of this unique person in as direct a way as possible.

About the artist

Nicholas Gioia trained, and lives and works in Naarm/ Melbourne. His photography is rarely about the formal, the staged, or the planned, but about capturing a particular moment that presents itself by chance.

Selected solo exhibitions include Supplication (Gallery Atelier Wagner, Melbourne, 2024), Fecund (Shopfront-342, Melbourne, 2022), Mute (Dimase Gallery, Melbourne, 2019), Rosso and Filetto (Spazio Si, Turin, Italy, 2018, 2017) and Beatified (Reid Street Gallery, Melbourne, 2016). He has appeared in numerous group exhibitions, with many of his works appearing in the annual Centre for Contemporary Photography Salon, Melbourne.

Nicholas’ works are held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Italy, France, Germany, USA, China, and Greece. His works are also held in corporate collections in Australia.

Samantha GROENESTYN

Editor (Darby Jones) (detail) 2024

Portrait of Darby Jones

Oil on linen

81 x 61 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Darby Jones is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based writer and editor of Kamilaroi, Scottish, and English heritage.

I painted this portrait against the State Library of Queensland’s unmistakable green while Darby was an editor intern at the library’s groundbreaking national program black&write! This iconic program is the first of its kind in Australia: a First Nations–led editing and mentoring program nurturing a strong Indigenous literary culture. I was fortunate to work closely with Darby and our black&write! colleagues at the library, and to observe the care and respect with which they helped black&write! Fellows develop their manuscripts for publication.

Our lunch-time painting sessions fostered intense discussion and reflection on our projects and our place in our cultural lineage, on our literary interests and on the form of the book. Darby’s whole bearing radiates openness, curiosity and warmth, demanding a fullbody portrait with a lively, sparkling surface.

About the artist

Raised in tropical Far North Queensland, Samantha Groenestyn trained as a philosopher, then a painter, in Brisbane and Edinburgh, before embarking on seven years of studio practice and a PhD in Philosophy in Vienna, Austria. She won second prize in the 2022 Queensland Figurative, was one of 11 finalists in the 2022 AME Bale Travelling Scholarship, a finalist in the 2023 Clayton Utz Award and 2023 Brisbane Portrait Prize, and has held nine solo and joint-solo exhibitions. Her work is observational but tightly constructed, anchored in vital, rhythmic drawing. She paints a vibrant cosmopolitan community of scientists, writers and artists.

Christine HALL

A Portrait Within Art (detail) 2023

Portrait of Pam Walpole

Digital photographic print on Baryta Silk paper

80 x 80 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I selected Pam Walpole, a highly regarded contemporary landscape artist, to be part of a book titled Artists in Studios. She has won many awards, more recently the Pamela Whitlock Prize. I am endeavouring to portray Pam as part of the work – leaving a fraction of herself immersed in the art. Capturing the inner portrait of Pam with her expressive brushstrokes – her face mesmerised and hands give an insight into the passionate depths the artist can transport us to.

The process of an artist remains unique and individual. The symbiotic relationship between the art of photography and the artists’ work complement each other.

About the artist

Christine Hall is a professional photographer residing on the Sunshine Coast, specialising in artwork capture for gallery exhibitions, archive, reproduction, flat lay, and commercial/corporate promotions. She currently services 134 artists and three galleries. Beyond traditional portraits, Christine sets out to represent the individuality of her subjects through a perceptive use of medium, style and setting.

A current personal project for a book involves photographing artists in their studios to visually describe the idea of the artist as elemental to their art. Christine’s photography has been exhibited in Australia and internationally, with recent highlights being a finalist in the 2023 Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, the 2023 and 2022 Salon des Refusés for the Brisbane Portrait Prize, one of 30 photographers accepted in the 2023 Nyland Kennedy Art Prize, and in 2023 the Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Prize

Christine HALL

In Her Space (detail) 2023

Portrait of Odessa Mahony-de Vries

Digital photographic print on Baryta Silk paper

76.41 x 80 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I selected Odessa Mahony-de Vries, an Australian contemporary artist, to be part of a book titled Artists in Studios. Odessa draws inspiration from the tangible nature of paint and colour. She engages in a rapid, instinctive process, weaving the interplay of expressive brushstrokes and lively arrangements to discover resolution. While initially establishing boundaries on the canvas, she later disrupts them by stretching the paint and blurring lines. Here is a merge of reflection and rapid movement much like her process.

About the artist

Christine Hall is a professional photographer residing on the Sunshine Coast, specialising in artwork capture for gallery exhibitions, archive, reproduction, flat lay, and commercial/corporate promotions. She currently services 134 artists and three galleries. Beyond traditional portraits, Christine sets out to represent the individuality of her subjects through a perceptive use of medium, style and setting.

A current personal project for a book involves photographing artists in their studios to visually describe the idea of the artist as elemental to their art. Christine’s photography has been exhibited in Australia and internationally, with recent highlights being a finalist in the 2023 Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, the 2023 and 2022 Salon des Refusés for the Brisbane Portrait Prize, one of 30 photographers accepted in the 2023 Nyland Kennedy Art Prize, and in 2023 the Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Prize

Stephen HAWKINS

The Watercolourist - Mr. Maidens (detail) 2024

Portrait of William Geoffrey Maidens

Watercolour on paper

72 x 49 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Through the course of my artistic life, I have not come across such an ingenious creator as the president of the Townsville Watercolour Group, Mr Maidens. His ability to conceive and construct the essence of a subject in the watercolour medium is a humbling experience, to say the least. A Townsville artist, born club-footed, suffering un-complained ailments including a shaking disease, Geoff’s ability to “conjure” brilliant compositions with a few well-placed strokes leaves all in his presence in awe. He is a true understated master!

Concept: After very obliging albeit uncomfortable sittings/photo shoot, I felt I had performed an almost invasive search into Geoff’s modest being. My objective was to capture this feeling/emotion/moment and bring it into the physical. Application of saturated skin tones were used to emphasise there is so much more infused in his being that may often go unseen to the unaware. The work shows a simple setting, a very reserved unpretentious Mr Maidens at his easel.

About the artist

Stephen Hawkins has a background in video production and photography (25 years), landscape, portrait and wildlife art (20 years), and airbrushing (10 years). He holds a Creative Arts Diploma and worked as a video producer at James Cook University Creative Arts department for six years, was winner of TCC Riverway Arts Exhibition (2003) and St James Cathedral Art exhibition (2019) and was Highly Commended at the TYTO 6th Birdlife Awards and TAS 66th Art Awards (Watercolour Sections) (2021).

Sarah HICKEY

Selves (detail) 2023

Portrait of Sarah Hickey

Oil on canvas

180 x 110 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This portrait explores Gabriel García Márquez’s assertion that “Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.”

Inspired by Matryoshka dolls, the image represents the concept of duality: a higher self and inner critic, a mother self and a child-like persona, the internal vs the external. I wanted these personas to coexist, interconnect, and harmonise with one another.

In this piece, a larger self protectively cradles a smaller version. Two avian guardians sit on my shoulders – a connect to spirit – while we both hold a sword-like paint brush. Granny squared blankets and Suzani motifs symbolise life’s cyclic nature, the knitting of time, and the enduring importance of change and growth.

About the artist

Sarah Hickey is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based visual artist.

A graduate of Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Sarah has been a semi-finalist in The Lester Prize and The Doug Moran, and a finalist in The BPP, The Percival Portrait Award, The Kennedy Art Prize, Redland Art Awards, Clayton Utz Art Award, Marie Ellis OAM Drawing Prize and The Mandorla Art Award.

Karlalise HORSTMANS

In-between Jobs (detail) 2024

Portrait of Bartosz Sielewicz

Oil on canvas

71 x 71 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

My middle-aged husband, a loyal devoted family man and the sole income earner of a family of five, sat at our dining table, forlorn, weary from a three-month hunt for work. His sombre manner and downturned face contrasted sharply with the bright world outside. In that moment, he preferred the shadow of our family room to the promise of a bright day. This painting was designed to evidence his mood in colour and expression, to emphasise his age in form and posture, and to reveal his circumstances in choice of clothing and his placement within the domestic scene. I also wanted to contrast the interior gloom with a bright lit exterior (which he ignores), to signal how fully he is affected by the relentless burden of providing for our family, and how deeply he shoulders the heavy responsibility. He is pensive, weary in contemplation.

About the artist

Karlalise Horstmans is a mature, self-taught, emerging artist based in Auckland, New Zealand, who has been exhibiting since 2022. She paints abstract works with emergent fields of colour, exploring the subjective nature of meaning through the use of text-like symbols and codes. She also paints representational works, including florals and portraits, with surrealist and narrative components. She often employs lenticular effects to engage the viewer in an active dialogue with her works. Her palette is as varied as nature, her brushwork is both loose and controlled. Colours and forms are depicted with sensitivity, creating powerful dramatic works imbued with serene stillness. Karlalise gained a BCom/LLB(Hons) from the University of Auckland in 2005 and practiced in the area of intellectual property law before choosing to stay at home to raise her children. She now lives and works full time as an artist.

Jan HYNES

Vince: North Queensland legend (detail) 2023

Portrait of Vincent Bray

Oil on canvas

60 x 60 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Vincent Bray, renowned for his paintings and printmaking, is legendary in the North Queensland art world. His naive style and simplistic representation of the outback landscape has great appeal to those who love the country and the man.

Vince, at 90 years of age and entering what seems to be the final stage of his life, is an honourable character to be immortalised on canvas.

About the artist

Jan Hynes, an artist living and working in Gurambilbarra/Townsville, uses art to communicate ideas and emotions. Through painting and fabricated 3D objects, Jan imparts issues of concern to the wider audience. Themes relating to inequality, injustice, social change and the environment are particularly relevant to Jan’s work.

Jan has been a regular entrant in The Percivals and Ephemera: Seaside Sculptures as well as exhibiting at solo and group exhibitions in Townsville and wider afield. Vincent Bray was the subject of Jan’s 2008 Percival Portrait entry, which was awarded Highly Commended.

This current entry documents the changes in Vince due to the passing of time. One unchanging thing is the background, the outback spinifex which he loved to paint.

Nineteen of Jan’s artworks are in the City of Townsville Art Collection.

Kerry INKSTER

I see and sing my own eyes inspir’d – Limited Edition Print (detail) 2022

Portrait of Haylee Inkster

Digital photographic print

84.1 x 59.4 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About

the artwork

My subject is my 21-year-old daughter, Haylee.

At the time of taking this portrait in September 2022, Haylee had gone through three years of very serious gut and mental health issues. Despite sailing through school, she had been secretly suffering, and by the time she tried university-level learning, it became apparent that she couldn’t focus. After a diagnosis in June 2022,we discovered that she also had ADHD. Haylee also spent at least an entire year vomiting most days from anxiety caused by her ADHD, which led to chronic IBS.

There is so much guilt we feel as a parent when we find out that our children have suffered all their lives from something that we had no idea of.

In this portrait, I asked Haylee to look at herself in her reflection under the water. Here, she is seeing herself, and here I am seeing her truly for the first time.

About the artist

Kerry Inkster was born in a tiny country town in South Australia in 1972 to farming parents. After a career diversion, she finished a degree at the South Australian School of Art in 2012, where she revived her love of photography and painting.

Today her work celebrates inspiring images of women underwater – offering an other-worldly and healing space for the viewer to reside. Here time and form are suspended – and the filtered light, shapes and shadows create beautiful reflections. For her photographs, she patiently waits to capture an ephemeral moment in time. She strives to articulate a felt sense in physical form.

Her work is collected both nationally and internationally, with her first international solo exhibition scheduled for June 2024. Her mission is to uplift women; this is the engine that fires her entire practice.

Minami IVORY

Battlefield (detail) 2023

Portrait of Minami Ivory

Pigment ink-jet print

84 x 59 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Living with trauma is a battlefield. The glimpses of the events drift in and out and they even catch me in dreams when I’m off guard. It feels as though something is laying on top of me constantly, but I try my best to stay strong. On some days, it feels so light and on other days, it feels so heavy my heart pounds aggressively while I carry on with my life that I cherish.

About the artist

Minami Ivory was born and raised in Hokkaido, Japan, and moved to Australia at the age of 15. She currently resides in Tasmania, where she is a photographic artist and an art educator.

Her works are drawn from personal experiences and issues surrounding notions of identity. Minami has exhibited both nationally and internationally.

Nazila JAHANGIR

Immigration-Annunciation (detail) 2023

Portrait of Nazila Jahangir

Oil on canvas

60 x 90 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

The original inspiration for my work is a famous theme from Italian Renaissance paintings. The actual composition emerged from da Vinci’s portrayal of the Annunciation. Revisiting the scenario, I tried to re-enact the event to tell the story of my immigration to Australia:

Immigration-Annunciation

Borrowing from the distant master, I depicted my subjects in an outdoor space, however, more contemporary, liberated, and alive. The double portrait of Gabriel and Mary also morphed into a double selfportrait; a metaphor for the announcement of the incarnation of a new persona.

The depicted scene is one of the gardens at the University of Western Australia in which soaring pine trees embrace an elegant white Elephant Palm. This robust, fleshy palm with its ray-shaped leaves symbolises what the ancient rock has offered me since I reached Australia: an exotic life experience full of drama, passion and emotion saturated with huge everyday light.

About the artist

A University of Western Australia Master of Fine Arts postgraduate student, Nazila Jahangir was awarded the National Emerging Artist Award at the Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize 2022. The prize marks Nazila’s first major award since moving to Australia to study. Nazila has exhibited her artworks in different exhibitions across Australia and became a finalist in four art competitions in Australia during 2021–2022.

Nazila held her first solo exhibition entitled ForgetMe-Not at the Cullity Gallery, University of Western Australia. She was honoured with a digital exhibition of her works on Yagan Square Digital Tower at Perth CBD during the summer of 2022.

Rosana KERSH

Tougher Than the Rest (detail) 2023

Portrait of Sean Kersh

Digital photographic print

100 x 140 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

My brother’s been through the wringer.

He had more than his fair share of heartache and challenges in his life. This photo was taken the morning after his 26-year-old daughter had miraculous and successful eight-hour brain surgery. He told me when he left having seen her the night before, in recovery and ICU, the last time he was in ICU was to say goodbye to his almost 3-year-old son, 27 years before. Which sent me into a ball of tears. So as simple as this moment was, it was also so raw, calm and beautifully natural.

About the artist

Rosana Kersh loves the real and raw, the rustic and refined. Rosana is a NSW-born, Townsville-based artist, photographer, graphic designer and emerging fashion designer.

Rosana has drawn, painted, photographed and created since the 1980s in her remote country upbringing.

Having completed two design diplomas in Sydney and Townsville, she has worked as a graphic designer, then exhibited solo and multiple group exhibitions locally, nationally and internationally for the past 20 years. She has run her photography business for over 18 years and is currently completing her Diploma of Visual Arts through TAFE Queensland.

Kellie LECZINKSA

Cato AM and the Sphinx 2023

Portrait of Sue Cato AM

Oil on canvas

160 x 84 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

It was a privilege to paint my friend Sue Cato: successful businesswoman, passionate art collector, and committed mother to Griffon dogs. Her world requires many role changes – managing crisis management and mergers and acquisitions, which in turn supports her three-decade-long art habit. Through her extensive contemporary art collection, Cato evokes pride in Australian artists. She is a generous patron, sitting on the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, Sydney Contemporary, and is an Ambassador of Women for Election Australia.

Inspired by Gustave Moreau’s Oedipus and the Sphinx, in this work, the Sphinx latches onto Cato’s jacket, with the helmet of the Roman goddess Minerva placed at her feet – symbolic of wisdom, justice, arts and strategy. My portrait reflects Sue’s fierce intellect, loyalty and role as protector. The plausible moment –the Sphinx asking its riddle. Riddles and problems are solved daily in Cato’s work life. She, like the Sphinx, is a ‘protector of secrets’.

About the artist

Kellie Leczinksa’s formative years were spent in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. From an early age, she was exposed to the power of art through wood carvings, body painting and ceremonial dress.

Kellie is predominantly a self-taught painter and is a multi-award-winning portrait photographer. The commonality across both mediums is her fascination with light and how it plays across the landscape of a face. Kellie references and plays with the aesthetics of staged settings that sometimes transforms her work into fictional worlds, while also loading her artworks with symbology and sometimes abstract narratives.

Kellie has been a multiple finalist in the National Portrait Prize, Olive Cotton Award, Winner – Percival Photographic Portrait Prize 2018, Kennedy Prize, Naked & Nude and Luxembourg Art Prize.

The artist’s work is held in both private and corporate collections in Australia, USA, and UK, including the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection, Richard Reiss Collection USA, Pinnacles Gallery, and the Coffs Harbour Still Life Collection.

Kellie LECZINKSA

The Multifaceted Sue Cato AM (backdrop by Marty Baptist) (detail) 2023

Portrait of Sue Cato AM

Digital photographic print

95 x 145 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Successful businesswoman, passionate art collector, and committed mother to Griffon dogs and a dear friend, Sue Cato is complex. Cato’s world is multifaceted, requiring many role changes, from managing strategic communications to crisis management and mergers and acquisitions, which in turn supports her three-decade-long art habit. Cato evokes pride in Australian artists through her extensive contemporary art collection and is a generous patron, sitting on the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, Sydney Contemporary and is an Ambassador of Women for Election Australia.

We connected through our love of Griffon dogs and our commitment to social issues.

About the artist

Kellie Leczinksa’s formative years were spent in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. From an early age, she was exposed to the power of art through wood carvings, body painting and ceremonial dress.

Kellie is predominantly a self-taught painter and is a multi-award-winning portrait photographer. The commonality across both mediums is her fascination with light and how it plays across the landscape of a face. Kellie references and plays with the aesthetics of staged settings that sometimes transforms her work into fictional worlds, while also loading her artworks with symbology and sometimes abstract narratives.

Kellie has been a multiple finalist in the National Portrait Prize, Olive Cotton Award, Winner – Percival Photographic Portrait Prize 2018, Kennedy Prize, Naked & Nude and Luxembourg Art Prize.

The artist’s work is held in both private and corporate collections in Australia, USA, and UK, including the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection, Richard Reiss Collection USA, Pinnacles Gallery, and the Coffs Harbour Still Life Collection.

Robyn MACRAE

Un dia de enero* (detail) 2024

Portrait of Giuliana Bernal and Angus MacRae

Digital photographic print

73 x 113 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

As an Australian with migrant heritage, I am intrigued by the human need for connections to place. My images often explore the interrelation of time, place and belonging in the ideation of Australian identity.

This need to question is heightened in the month of January as conversations swirl surrounding our past, future, and what it means to be Australian.

In this image, my son Gus and his new Argentine wife Gigi sit on a beach on Yuin Country. The portrait reveals a juxtaposition of strength and vulnerability in an ellipses of time in Gigi’s journey of connection to this land.

*Translation Un día de enero = A day in January

About the artist

Robyn MacRae is a photographer and Churchill Fellow who lives in a small rural town in NSW, where her photographic work is divided between personal projects and being an educator. As a child of migrants, her imagery often investigates the sense of place, connections with homelands, as well as diverse representations of beauty in the fabric of contemporary Australian society.

Her work has been included in group exhibitions at The National Portrait Gallery, The National Portrait Prize touring gallery, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Casula Powerhouse, The Tweed Gallery, The Sydney Opera House, The NSW State Library and the Ballarat International Foto Biennale among others.

As a Churchill fellow, Robyn investigates the positive effects that photography programs can have on the educational and sociological outcomes of youth at risk in urban and regional locations.

Garrie MAGUIRE

20230514-1709 (from the male//chair project) (detail) 2023

Portrait of Gastavo

Archival inkjet print

53.5 x 40 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

During my research degree, I was challenged on the idea of ‘portrait’. I started to interrogate Richard Avedon’s definition: “A portrait is a moment between a photographer and a person who knows they are being photographed.” He set the frame, the light and waited to see what happens. male//chair project has a template of no added signifiers of wealth or performance of gender, a prop of a chair and promise of anonymity. I asked each [sitter] to be aware of the camera as the audience’s gaze. These are portraits for the sitter first and the viewer last. Like Avedon, I trust the performance of each. They project themselves as they wish from a position that could be considered vulnerable, a position we consider males to be uncomfortable. This produced a body of work that often turns that discomfort onto the audience.

About the artist

Descended from Irish convicts, Garrie Maguire lived in the regions, tourist destinations, all the eastern seaboard capitals, Beijing and Manila. He lived in lofts, caravans, farms, rental and in immigration detention centre. He has made photographs for Apple Inc, Ford Motor Company, Northrop Grumman, the Communist Party of China and Troughman. His portraits have been published by The Good Weekend, Blue and Konemann. His work has been selected from shows in New York, China and Spain and included in Daylesford Foto, Caochangdi Photo Spring, HeadOn festivals and ACP. His work is included in the collections of the Kinsey Institute, Three Shadows Collection (China), National Library of Australia and Casula Powerhouse Collection. Once described as one of the world’s best fetish photographers, on the negative side, Garrie cannot hold a tune, failed at heterosexuality, and still has no sporting prowess.

Naomi MATTHEWS

Fatigued (detail) 2024

Portrait of Keryn Latimer

Ink, gouache, acrylic, pen, watercolour

70 x 90 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I started this portrait of my dear friend Keryn with a very different image concept in mind. However, during our sittings, the shared experiences of our lives brought an understanding of how similar our lives are and a clearer concept of an image emerged.

The focus of Keryn’s work-life has always been that of a caregiver, from psych/mental health nurse to mental health group therapist. My focus for the last 25 years has been that of a full-time carer for two immediate family members, caring alone, no circle of family and quite isolated. Our lives/work require long hours supporting and understanding complex issues. It’s work that, over time, takes a toll on our bodies and mind.

The image I completed is of a weary Keryn with eyes closed, going inwards, finding and giving time to herself to build/rebuild resilience and strength essential to carers’ wellbeing and those we care about.

About the artist

Naomi Matthews completed a Bachelor Fine Arts (Painting) at RMIT, Melbourne, in 1984. The following year, she did a postgraduate qualification in printmaking. From 1985 to 1996, she participated in several exhibitions and received awards for her series of small drawings and prints.

From 1985 to 1996 Naomi had several solo and group exhibitions in Australia, USA and Europe. She has won several awards for her works on paper and etchings.

From 1997 to 2023, her art career was put on hold due to caring for two members from her immediate family full time. This was a difficult time, as she was a single parent with no support and working multiple jobs to pay for medical interventions (pre-NDIS). In 2024, Naomi held an exhibition of works on paper at St Heliers Gallery at the Abbotsford Convent Arts Precinct, Melbourne.

Kevin MAYO

Angela in her studio (Telekinesis for beginners) (detail) 2024

Portrait of Angela Meyer

Acrylic on canvas

152 x 121.5 cm

Image courtesy of Jennifer Frei.

About the artwork

Angela Meyer is a North Queensland artist whom I have known since the 1990s. At one time, we met weekly at her studio to work and draw each other. Angela in her studio originates from studies made in that focused, creative space. The depiction of Angela in black, seated before her collection of objects and works recognises an artist reconciling restraint and abundance. The black clothing emphasises her strong hands and the grounding of her feet. She looks calmly at the viewer, ready to stand, to begin. Behind her, cluttered objects offer symbols of character and mind, evoke the whimsy and idiosyncrasy of Angela’s work, and its nostalgic and spiritual sources. The bright, full, rounded objects are contrasted by the emptiness, tones, and order of the compartments and frames. There is discipline and play, certainty and mystery, stillness and motion, pushing towards emergence. Hence the sub-title, “Telekinesis for beginners”.

About the artist

Kevin lives in his hometown of Gimuy/Cairns. He has exhibited in Australia and Europe, with works held in collections in the USA, UK, Germany, and Australia. He has had solo exhibitions at Cairns Regional Art Gallery and Perc Tucker, and held arts residencies in Spain and Chile. Kevin’s practice includes painting, printmaking, sculpture, set design, puppetry, storytelling, and installation, and he has permanent public art sculptures on Cairns Esplanade.

Kevin has worked with arts collectives and theatre in Far North Queensland since the 1990s, including KickArts, Upholstery, Graft’n’Arts, JUTE, and Crate59. He is currently artist/curator/treasurer for Crate59 Artist Collective, where he has had a studio since 2018. He held a solo exhibition there in 2023.

Kevin has a PhD in Anthropology from Australian National University (ANU), for which he conducted fieldwork in the Indian Himalayas. He lectured in anthropology for ANU and James Cook University, worked in Indigenous health, and in Native Title. He has travelled extensively in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa.

Neil MCIRVINE

Self Portrait (detail) 2024

Portrait of Neil McIrvine

Oil on canvas

91 x 122 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

In this self-portrait, I aimed for a looseness, honesty and immediacy that is difficult to achieve when you spend months on a painting. I did this one in three sittings to achieve the result I was looking for. I did my first self-portrait over 40 years ago and, like all artists, my favourite is my latest one.

About the artist

Neil McIrvine is a contemporary artist, living in Naarm/ Melbourne, working in oil and watercolour. He has a studio on the banks of the Maribyrnong River and also goes plein air as often as possible, sketching and painting in the city streets or surrounding countryside.

He is a member of the Victorian Artists Society and the Watercolour Society of Victoria, and was an Archibald Portrait Prize Finalist in 2008.

Neil’s work is held in the National Gallery of Victoria’s Contemporary Art Collection as well as private collections in Australia, New Zealand, China, England, Scotland and the USA.

Cassandra

MCMAHON

Tools of the Trade 1 (detail) 2023

Portrait of Dr Rebecca Williams and Portrait of Hayley Moore

Digital photographic print on rag paper

85 x 115 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

At the Townsville Mortuary, Forensic Pathologist Dr Rebecca Williams and assistant Hayley Moore go about their daily ritual with mortality. Each tool they hold, wielded with clinical precision, offers a glimpse into the intricate process of unravelling the mysteries surrounding a person’s final moments. In this visual narrative, the synergy of intellect and fortitude unfolds as they navigate the delicate realm of post-mortem examinations in North Queensland.

These women, possessing minds as resilient as their craft demands, play pivotal roles in the intersection of grief-stricken families and the justice system. Beyond being a scientific pursuit, their labour becomes a profound service, offering solace to family and contributing to the pursuit of truth in the face of loss. In this exploration, I aim to illuminate not just the tools of their trade but the interplay of intellect, empathy, and resilience that defines their indispensable roles in the storytelling of the departed.

About the artist

Cassandra McMahon is an early career artist based in Gurambilbarra/Townsville. Through photography, Cassandra seeks to create compelling visual narratives that celebrate the intersection of femininity, intellect, and cultural diversity. Cassandra’s work is informed by her own experience of growing up in Northern Queensland and she brings to her art a unique insight into the lives of the people she documents.

She is already a much-awarded and exhibited photographer: in 2023, she won and placed third in categories at the Townsville Show Photography Competition, received a Highly Commended in Travel, Photographer of the Year, and a Highly Commended in Portrait, Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers. In 2022, she was a finalist in the Percival Photographic Portrait Prize and a finalist at the Hinchinbrook Arts Awards at the TYTO Regional Gallery. In 2021, she won in the category of Animal, Focus Photography Exhibition & Awards at the Mission Beach Gallery.

Sandra MINCHIN

I thought this was going to be my very last breath (detail) 2022

Portrait of Sandra Minchin

Digital photographic print

54 x 39 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This was the night I thought I was going to die. I couldn’t breathe and was under full-on medical surveillance. This photo was taken shortly after the lung specialist told me my lungs were full of fluid but that I would be OK. I took the photo to remind myself never to take life for granted.

I have been diagnosed with a mixed autoimmune disorder with Scleroderma, and overlap syndrome polymyositis.

My work investigates the representation of the nonideal sick female body and examines how chronic illness/pain can be framed as beauty. Through my work, I challenge common representations of illness and disability. My work is an act of resistance to my illness and an attempt to reclaim agency of my body.

About the artist

Sandra has exhibited and presented her artwork, photography, and performances in China, Ireland, London, UAE, Australia, Poland, Berlin, Italy and Holland. She has an upcoming exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, a performance residency at the Gippsland Performing Art Centre, and was recently selected to make the artwork for the City of Ballarat Inclusivity project for people with low vision and their assistance dogs. Her photography was selected for a book entitled Enough: Artists and Writers on Gendered Violence (Perimeter, 2023). Sandra has also given presentations on her work and artist talks in the National Gallery, Victoria; the National Portrait Gallery, ACT; and in St. Barts Pathology Museum, UK. She is the recipient of won several awards including a Creative Inspiration Award, a City of Melbourne grant and Culture Ireland awards.

Mark MISIC

Banksia_Jeanette Misic (detail) 2024

Portrait of Jeanette Misic

Digital print

111.76 x 196 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Jeanette Misic is a photographer living and working in Woiwurrung Country (Melton, Victoria). For this portrait, I asked Jeanette to take me to a favourite location for her macro photography; she chose the Melton Botanical Gardens. These gardens are a curated collection of native flora which provides incredible opportunities to connect close up with insects and flowers. I asked her why she takes close up photographs of insects and flowers. She replied “there are so many beautiful flowers and insects interacting with each other. There are bees, hover flies, beetles, spiders, ants and butterflies. It is an amazing tiny world of light, texture and colour.”

About the artist

Mark Misic is a multidisciplinary artist, working across painting, drawing, photography, video, performance and installation. With a Master of Fine Art from Monash University and a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Victorian College of the Arts, Mark has been exhibiting for over 30 years. Mark is concerned with the intersection of the physical human experience and the universal phenomenology. His work explores the strange couplings, flows and alliances that occur when our internal system of self-governance and human physicality morph with the primordial landscape. He has had multiple solo and group exhibitions nationally, and participated in cross-cultural projects internationally. Select examples include Wild Cries of HaHa (Atherton Regional Gallery, Atherton, 2018), Black Mountain Paintings (Canopy Art Centre, Cairns 2017), Art Now FNQ (Cairns Art Gallery, 2017), Flowers of Romance (Canopy Art Centre Cairns, 2016), and Condition for re-entry (Kick Arts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, 2014).

Lili MONTEFIORE

Cuppa and Catch Up with Arthur (detail) 2024

Portrait of Arthur Ridgway

Acrylic on board

62 x 49 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I met Arthur when I was a little kid. His daughter Makka and I went to school together where her mum, Peta, was teaching us about The Dreaming, and when we became friends, our families formed a close bond. My parents would spend many an arvo in deep conversation with Peta and Arthur as us kids played.

Arthur is a proud Awabakal man with a soft but strong voice, and a deep knowledge of this land, a loving partner and father. I’ve captured Arthur as he listens respectfully to Mum and Peta talking about the referendum and grandkids, dropping pearls of wisdom here and there, cuppa in hand. In this catch-up, I am understanding more of the yarn than I did as a kid, and I feel grown up. As they leave, they yell back, “love ya Bub”, as though nothing has changed.

About the artist

Lili Montefiore is a 28-year-old painter currently living in the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania. Lili grew up on a little peninsula in Wangi Wangi, NSW, and has mostly resided in coastal towns ever since. She relays that having made art for as long as she can remember, she spent years trying to figure out what her genre and subject style was. She then realised that it was right in front of her all along: the nostalgia of the suburban landscapes, the intimate relationships, and the mundane moments we take for granted living in Australia. Our country has a dark past, but also beauty; there are people worth celebrating and memorialising who punctate our daily lives.

Wren MOORE

The Be-Wild-ered Wayfarer (detail) 2024

Portrait of Richard Speers

Digital photographic print

30 x 42.4 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

The sitter is bewildered because he was not aware we were going on such a long walk. The photographer thought she was clear at the outset, of the intention of the walk, the possible distance, and time it would take. The miscommunication was not discovered until at least one hour into the adventure, when the sitter asked, “Where are we going, why are we walking so far?” Bewildered blank looks from the photographer to the sitter ... how could he not know? We talked about it. All the sitter could do was perch on a rock and look perplexed at his predicament. All the photographer could do was take a photo. With the landscape closing in menacingly around him, he realised there was not much else to be done but to keep walking. The mood from both sitter and photographer became wilder and wilder as they grappled with the misunderstanding between them.

About the artist

Wren Moore is an emerging artist in image-making, object design and contemporary jewellery. Wren completed an Honours degree in Fine Arts from the School of Creative Arts and Media at the University of Tasmania in 2019.

Her current doctoral research centres on her deep and evolving relationship with the North Queensland and Tasmanian landscapes through wayfaring. Her current research investigates the impact that place, at two climatically diverse regional centres through internal migration, has upon the body, identity and artistic practice.

Wren was a finalist in the Henry Jones Art Prize in Hobart in 2019 and the Women’s Art Prize Tasmania in Burnie in 2020. Wren was awarded the prestigious Jim Bacon Memorial Scholarship for Honours research in 2019 and an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship for a Doctorate in Philosophy (Creative Arts) at James Cook University in 2020 and at the University of Tasmania in 2024. Recently, Wren held her first solo exhibition at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts in Townsville, North Queensland.

Roland NANCARROW

Double Bounce, portrait of Min Xu (detail) 2024

Portrait of Min Xu

Acrylic on canvas

154 x 110 cm

Image courtesy of Michael Marzik.

About the artwork

My Chinese photographer friend Min Xu has a large photographic studio. When I initially saw it, I joked that it was large enough to play ball in. I had previously painted a small portrait of Min. This initial work led to the idea of ‘active’ portraits, which led to the idea of playing ball in the photographic studio, and some photographic studies were completed. As I intended to work on a large canvas, there was room to include two ‘Mins’ bouncing a ball. Double Bounce is the result. The ‘active’ nature of this portrait challenges the notion of the ‘seated’ portrait. I continued the referencing of Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Chinese Girl painting as previously used in a portrait of Min where blue/green skin tones are used. The use of a ‘flat’-coloured background and scale of the figures proposes to give a sense of space of her studio.

About the artist

Roland Nancarrow is a Gimuy/Cairns-based artist practicing in the areas of painting, sculpture, drawing and public art. He has a BA Fine Arts from the Queensland College of Art. He has held over 40 solo exhibitions of artwork across Australia and in the UK, USA, Malaysia and Japan. Some recent major exhibitions include Bird Encounters (Cairns Art Gallery, 2023) and The Nature of the Tropics (Galerie Popelier, Osaka, Japan, 2022). After artist residencies in the Maldives, 2016, 2017 and 2018, an exhibition of resultant artworks titled Maldives Artworks was shown at Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville, in 2021, Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, 2021, and Old Ambulance Station Gallery, Nambour, 2021. A self-published catalogue accompanied the show.

For the 2023 Cairns Festival, a suite of Roland’s watercolours was chosen to be animated by AGB Events, Sydney, for projection on the Cairns Library. The projection was shown every night from 25 August to 3 September 2023.

Amanda NEILSON

Me Time (detail) 2023

Portrait of Jemima

Digital photographic print

30 x 50 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

The concept for this image was to show the sitter at peace in her alone time. Jemima is a two–time cancer survivor as well living with an intellectual disability and anxiety disorder that can make life pretty challenging. I wanted to show her, in the comfort she finds alone on the beach, the tranquility of being away from her world of hospitals, therapies and schedules and the chaos those things bring. I have used a long exposure to calm the waves and captured her standing still, or maybe still standing after all she has survived, despite the sands of her life that seem to constantly shift beneath her feet. The image is my attempt at conveying her happy place, of light and warmth, space to breathe, and where she doesn’t have any concern for who might be coming or what they may want from her. Her red dress is the perfect anchor in the image, giving an outward visual strength that represents her inner strength or character as well as making her easy to spot for her carers who are always keeping watch.

About the artist

Amanda Neilson is a portrait photographer living and working in rural North Queensland where she runs her business around the needs of her family. She has a passion for capturing people in their natural spaces to tell the story of who they really are. She is well known for her creative concepts and attention to detail, always willing to go to extra lengths to capture unique and tailor made image memories for her clients. Most close to her heart is the work she does for the more vulnerable members of our society, where her motto is “beautiful people, in a beautiful light”.

Richard NOLAN-NEYLAN

Jody Graham 2024

Portrait of Jody Graham

C-type

130 x 86.71 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I have been privileged to have had recent opportunities to learn directly from artist Jody Graham, and her work has had a significant influence on me. Working mainly with charcoal, Graham’s energetic work style is amazing to witness. She uses a mix of charcoal types – including great lumps of it – from various locations and sources. Referencing old photographs of miners, my portrait seeks to convey my sense of her being like a coal miner, excavating her artworks from paper and charcoal while wearing a mask for safety, just as coal miners do.

The photograph was taken in total darkness, hand held using flash and custom snoots, one on the face and one on the hands. A third light to the left was used, but only utilising the modelling light. The exposure was 1/2 a second to add light to Jody’s studio and add softness to the Left hand side of the image.

About the artist

Richard Nolan-Neylan studied Fine Art at Seaforth College of Art & Design, majoring in Photography. Moving to London in 1991, he worked with photographers in still-life, portraiture and fashion. Finding creative expression his personal photographic artistic work includes portraiture, urban landscapes and still life. Richard has moved closer to his artistic roots, working in landscape and life drawing. He has exhibited in England and Australia. His artworks are held in the collection of Redland Regional Art Gallery, and private collections nationally and in the UK.

Selected solo and group exhibitions include Darker Than Light (The Gallery Sunstudios, Sydney, 2022), The Family Home, Works from the Redland Art Gallery Collection (2020), This Time It’s Personal, Sunstudios, Sydney, 2020), Going Local, Redland Art Gallery (Cleveland, 2013) and Going Public (Queensland Centre of Photography, Brisbane, 2012).

Nick OFFER

Self Portrait (Hawaiian Shirt) (detail) 2024

Portrait of Nick Offer

Oil on canvas

28 x 22 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Despite portraiture being a significant part of my practice, prior to this painting I had not painted a self-portrait for 20 years. I relented for two reasons: firstly, I wanted a sitter who could spare enough hours to really push the image as far as it could go. Turns out I was the best candidate for this. Secondly, I had recently bought a Hawaiian shirt and felt that this would provide a degree of levity to contrast with what I knew would be an expression of intense concentration on my face.

About the artist

Nick Offer is a figurative artist based in Ngambri/ Canberra. Most recent group shows include The National Capital Art Prize (highly commended, 2023), The Lethbridge Small Scale Award (2023), The Waverley Art Prize (2022 and 2021) and the Mandorla Award (2021). He’s also appeared in annual group shows at M16 Artspace, Canberra and Megalo Print Studio, Canberra.

Abroad, Nick participated in Figurative Art Now at the Mall Galleries (London, 2020), The London Contemporary Art Prize (2019) and The Lynn Painter Stainer’s Prize (London, 2018).

In 2022 Nick held a solo show at M16 Artspace entitled The Night Side of Nature.

Marco PENNACCHIA

Reverie (detail) 2024

Portrait of Krystel Costantini

Oil on canvas

181 x 121 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

In my painting Reverie, I aim to capture the profound emotional depth hidden within my inner self, serving as a manifesto for personal freedom often suppressed in today’s society. Emerging from a culturally restrictive background, I grapple with expressing my inner femininity, a predominant theme in this oil artwork. Delicately veiled by linen fabric, the subject’s forms and facial expressions subtly emerge, symbolising the complex emotions concealed within.

Reverie portrays my vulnerability confronting fears and insecurities while revealing my true self to the world. It explores the dichotomy between external appearance as a visual facade and the intrinsic essence that defines our humanity. Through this introspective piece, I challenge viewers to contemplate the depths of their own inner selves and the courage required to embrace authenticity in a society that often demands conformity.

About the artist

Marco Pennacchia, who moved to Australia in 2019, has been evolving his artistic style by blending classical oil techniques with contemporary themes. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, with the latest being in late December 2023 at the Compendium Gallery in Melbourne.

In 2017, he organised his first solo exhibition at Villa Memo Giordani Valeri in Italy, showcasing himself as a young emerging artist.

In 2022, he held another solo exhibition at the Black Sheep Artist Gallery in Melbourne, reaching a wider audience. He was also a finalist in the 2022 Percival Portrait Prize.

He has won several street art competitions, including first prizes at the Yarram Chalk Art Festival for two consecutive years (2021–2022) and at the Rochester Mural Festival in 2022. Furthermore, in 2022, he won a contest to create a tram honouring the LGBTQIA+ community and its minorities.

Emily PORTMANN

Self Soother, Action Two (detail) 2023

Portrait of Emily Portmann

Archival pigment print

100 x 100 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Self Soother, Action Two plays with bodily actions that respond to immaterial spaces centring on how psychological sites can be given physical presence and the relationships in such actions. As a neurodivergent artist, Emily Portmann examines these shifting psychological landscapes through the use of selfportraiture and notions of self-soothing behaviours, such as the cradling of a doppelgänger second head in her arms. The tenderness of which the second head is held lends to a surreal quality as the figure tries to sooth the internal discomforts of shifting perceptions and outsider experiences.

About the artist

Emily Portmann is an artist who uses her body to enact and examine bodily politics and psychological states of being through performative gestures captured through photography and video. As a neurodivergent artist, her practice is informed by the everyday and psychological realities of living within the neurodivergent community. By recording these bodily actions that respond to spaces both physical and immaterial, Portmann’s practice centres on how psychological sites can be given physical presence and the relationships in such actions. Her most recent solo exhibitions include Aftercare (Photoaccess, Canberra 2022), Hold Tight (Red Leaf Gallery, Woollahra 2021) and Cool Changes (2021). She has been a finalist in art prizes such as Blacktown Art Prize (2024), Muswellbrook Art Prize (2023), The Olive Cotton Art Prize (2023), The Fisher’s Ghost Prize (2023, 2022), Wyndham Art Prize (2022), The Percival Photographic Portrait Prize (2022), and Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2021), among others.

Danish QUAPOOR

screening test 2024

Portrait of Noah Guthrie

Archival digital photographic pigment print on Hahnemühle photo rag

56 x 80 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This work captures a moment of intuitive inspiration, extending an ongoing series of photographs of the artist’s partner and muse. It furtively examines concepts of otherness, co-habitation and the body in relation to liminal space. The shirtless subject waits patiently, and perhaps ominously, amidst tropical vegetation at the back entrance to a suburban home. Will he be allowed inside before the afternoon light fades?

About the artist

Danish Quapoor is a multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Gurambilbarra/Townsville, Queensland. His practice typically centres on ceramics, illustrative painting and textiles; however, photography is also of recurring interest. The artist favours sparse compositions and subdued colour palettes, which unify his ostensibly diverse oeuvre.

Danish has led significant art projects in Queensland and Victoria, including solo, group and collaborative exhibitions, commissions, studio residencies, workshops and murals. His most significant solo exhibition to date, good grief, was held at Pinnacles Gallery, Townsville City Galleries in 2024. Danish holds a Master of Arts and Cultural Management (University of Melbourne), along with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Creative Arts), Honours (University of Southern Queensland, [UniSQ]).

Danish was also the inaugural 2023 UniSQ School of Creative Arts Alumni Fellow. He has works held in the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba City Collection, and private collections internationally.

Irene RAE

Sandi Hook – Her creative space (detail) 2023

Portrait of Dr Sandi Hook

Oil on canvas

81 x 62.5 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Sandi and I have been friends for many years. We have often drawn and painted together at her studio in Hermit Park. With The Percivals in mind, I asked Sandi to pose for me. I wanted to capture not just her portrait but also her working on one of her large drawings. Her mark making is both strong and elegant, and I thought this would be a positive combination.

About the artist

Irene Rae’s art career began officially in the 1990s in Darwin at Northern Territory University (now known as Charles Darwin University. Her medium of choice is oils, although pastels, watercolour and printmaking also feature. In 2012, Irene completed an Honours year at Townsville’s James Cook University, with a solo exhibition Pertaining to the Personal held at the Emerge Gallery there.

Irene’s art has generally been figurative in nature – often portrait and figure paintings of family and friends. She has exhibited in group shows at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts and Perc Tucker Regional Gallery. She has entered in and been accepted in each of the Percival Portrait Awards since 2012, and in 2018 received a ‘Commended’ for her portrait of Jill O’Sullivan.

Jack RODGERS

Self Portrait (detail) 2023

Portrait of Jack Rodgers

Acrylic house paint on artist board

91.5 x 61 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This self-portrait came about while painting some other portraits. In between paintings, I would do a self-portrait just to try and be as free as possible. As a portrait painter, I am constantly trying to balance effortless self-expression with the stress of precision when capturing the likeness of the sitter. I like this self-portrait because I feel I have struck that balance; I look a little bit odd and a little bit tired and stressed, but painting the truth of that moment is where the likeness is achieved.

About the artist

Jack Rodgers has a Bachelor of Fine Art from Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, graduating with a double major in painting and drawing. Jack has been a finalist in The Brisbane Portrait Prize and The Percival Portrait Prize. His work has been in curated exhibitions at Rockhampton Museum of Art in 2022 and Hervey Bay Regional Gallery in 2023. Jack’s most recent solo exhibition, CHEAP SEATS, was held at Woolloongabba Art Gallery in March 2022.

Andrew ROVENKO

The Party (detail) 2022

Portrait of Mia Rovenko

Inkjet print from film negative scan

98 x 78 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

The Rocketgirl’s journey started as a stress response to the pandemic restrictions, but lasted way beyond that, as the little astronaut kept exploring her surroundings, feeding the child’s curiosity, learning about the universe and looking for her place in it.

This image is one of the memories from small but magical worlds discovered in our backyard at the strangest of times. Looking at the world through the eyes of a child reminds us of one special power we all have but often forget after becoming grown-ups: the power to imagine.

About the artist

Ukraine-born and raised Andrew Rovenko has been calling Australia home for over 18 years.

Having practised his skills as a freelance magazine photographer, Andrew always preferred the freedom of not having to work towards a commercial brief.

This eventually led to doing personal projects, primarily on film, where the joy of craftsmanship can be experienced the most.

Andrew was named 2021 Australian Photographer of the Year by the Australian Photography Magazine, and his work received international recognition with a number of awards and publications, including Vogue, Marie Claire and Rolling Stone Magazine, and has been exhibited across the world.

Sam SCOUFOS

Self-Portrait in Water (detail) 2024

Portrait of Sam Scoufos

Giclée print

100 x 80 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I have been experimenting with using various liquids as a means of creating spontaneous gestures within my work. This purposeful, distorted self-portrait is a challenge to myself on what a photograph can be. The refracted and reflected light playing off the peaks and troughs of the water project a familiar image of reflection. Yet, during this suspension of movement, the water reveals a distorted and often grotesque image of self. The way in which the image appears is also reminiscent of agitating a developer tray and revealing a black-and-white darkroom print.

About the artist

Sam Scoufos’s fine art practice focuses on controlling the unpredictable. The artist prefers working within the confines of set parameters (of lighting, composition, and tone) that he can design, and then allows elements outside of his control to guide the direction of the images. His work involves very little post-production; he instead prefers to utilise practical, in-camera techniques he has developed. He has an upcoming gallery exhibition of works using the collodion process of traditional early wet-plate photography and his work has been included and awarded in a number of major art prizes in Australia and at HOTA and Moreton Bay Region Art Gallery.

Katie STEWART

Mum and Dad (detail) 2023

Portrait of Wayne and Mary Stewart

Digital photographic print

16 x 137 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

“...old? Yes. Burnt-out? Certainly. But I can tell you, the memories are still there. Clear, intact, indestructible. And they’ll be there if I live to be 110.” Matt Drayton, played by Spencer Tracy, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

Mum and Dad have always reminded me of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy: their enduring love in undeniable.

Wayne and Mary Stewart moved to Townsville in 1987. Thirty-seven years later, they live in Douglas, have brought up four children, nine grandchildren and have made contributions and life-long connections across their community. Celebrating their 80th birthdays and 56th wedding anniversary in 2023, I sat down with mum and dad and asked them questions about their love, marriage and life, while my siblings and our families sat around and listened.

About the artist

Katie Stewart doesn’t separate her work as a teacher, community development worker and public servant from her photography. To her, these roles have been both professional and personal creative endeavours, embedding human rights perspectives in all work she undertakes. Each role has informed the other, and all have provided opportunities to create with a diversity of communities and individuals, using photography and film. Katie has documented hundreds of people, collaboratively designing and facilitating community events and exhibitions over the past 22 years. Katie’s photography is both about the inner (personal peace) and the outer (cultural, political and social). Her relationship with people in front of the lens and her state of mind is as necessary as her camera when working. Katie’s work presents images of the mundane and unnoticed; observation and recognition; life and personal moments. All are uniquely experienced and universally understood.

Erin STONESTREET

Hannah Waiting (detail) 2024

Portrait of Hannah Mattner

Oil on board

61 x 46 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This is a portrait of my sister’s partner, Hannah Mattner. While the majority of Australians have hung up our masks and resumed our pre-COVID lives, COVID-19 remains an ever-present danger for Hannah and hundreds of thousands of other immunocompromised people in our community.

Minimising face-to-face contact, avoiding public areas, and mask wearing remain the reality for Hannah and many others. Hannah Waiting attempts to convey a sense of this ongoing reality, balancing the flat, empty space of the frame with the three-dimensionality of her experience.

About the artist

Erin Stonestreet is an contemporary realist artist with a practice focused on figurative art. Recognising that portraiture has historically only reflected a privileged subset of the population, she is interested in expanding the tradition of oil portraiture to a more representative community.

Working primarily in oils, she is fascinated by the moment when patches of shape and colour morph into the illusion of reality, and the way gesture and composition can imply narrative.

Erin has studied widely in Australia and the USA, and her work is held in private collections in Australia, the USA and the UK.

Virginia SZARAZ

Valentines (detail) 2023

Portrait of Henry Szaraz/Melinda Connolly

Digital photographic print

81 x 80.7 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

My son Henry is in love with love...and Melinda.

Every Valentine’s Day, Henry takes Melinda out to dinner and showers her with flowers and chocolates.

I chose these sitters as I am fascinated by and admire their joy of life, which never wavers.

I attempted to capture their honesty, openness and happiness.

About the artist

Virginia Szaraz studied photography at the Australian Centre of Photography.

She has been a finalist in the Head On Portrait Prize, twice, Moran Photographic Prize three times, Olive Cotton Photographic Portrait Prize on four occasions, as well as the Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize (Highly Commended) and Gosford Art Prize (Highly Commended). She has exhibited in group exhibitions at Blender Gallery and Michael Nagy Gallery in Paddington, NSW.

Seabastion TOAST

How the Light Gets In 2023

Portrait of Karlee Rawkins

Oil on canvas

181 x 121 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

Over two decades ago, Karlee Rawkins and I embarked on our undergraduate journey together. While life led us down different roads, fate has brought us back to the same community once more.

In creating this portrait, I sought to capture the essence of Karlee’s world – a world illuminated by the winter light streaming through the windows of her home. This play of light and nature serves as a symbolic representation of her work, which delves into the profound connections between wildlife, nature, and the human psyche.

Amid the chaos of family life, she radiates a meditative serenity, an unwavering devotion to her craft always at the forefront of her mind. Her life and art are inseparable, a testament to her enduring commitment.

In the distant doorway, you’ll find her son’s silhouette, a powerful symbol of her transformation from a solitary studio artist to a loving mother, disability-rights advocate and artist.

About the artist

Seabastion Toast lives and works on the mid-North Coast of NSW.

Among her achievements, she recently won the $10,000 Darcy Doyle Landscape Award for the second time. In 2023, she won the People’s Choice Award at both the Portia Geach and the Sunshine Coast Art Prizes. She was recently in the top eight finalists in the Evelyn Chapman Award, won two awards at the 2019 Glover Prize, and is regularly a finalist in many prominent art prizes nationwide, including the National Still Life Award, Doug Moran and Mosman Awards.

Seabastion holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Southern Cross University, which included a very influential exchange to the Pratt Institute in New York. She is represented by Anthea Polson Art Gallery on the Gold Coast. Other than painting, she also loves running up mountains, surfing, her husband, and dog Audrey.

Jacinta TOMYN

Particles, Self-Portrait (detail) 2023

Portrait of Jacinta Tomyn

Digital photographic print

116 x 87 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

As a self-portrait artist, I find inspiration in creating throughout the entire sitting, from the use of light, to the capture and post processing of a final image. For this particular sitting, I wanted to take that process further by crafting my own handmade pinhole lens to explore the unique qualities within the capture.

Particles, Self-Portrait was created solely by myself as both photographer and sitter in my home studio in South Australia. My use of a delayed shutter enabled subtle movement and exposure to light, offering a unique ethereal appearance with deep grain or ‘particles’. The self-portrait intends to portray the emergence of various qualities within myself as an individual and artist.

About the artist

Jacinta is a South Australian artist practicing within the medium of photography.

Jacinta’s artistic expression evolved as an intersection between an interest in the study of light through photography, and a personal journey of self-discovery.

A continuous exploration of the darkness and light within the self and surrounds informs the direction of movement and capture. Every image results from a moment of feeling, enhanced by the honesty and freedom that the nude instils.

Julie VERNON

Barb (detail) 2024

Portrait of Barbara Cheshire

Oil on canvas

76 x 61 cm

Image courtesy of Louise Partland.

About the artwork

The sitter is someone who for more than 20 years has been a teacher, mentor, inspiration and friend to me. This painting is a tribute to an incredibly talented and generous woman who always presents herself as someone who looks forward with energy and positivity regardless of stresses and obstacles in her life. She is always eager to share her knowledge to assist other artists or aspiring artists in their quest to create.

The painting shows her surrounded by the paints and brushes that are as necessary to her as life itself. The orange glow around the subject and over her tools of trade is to show her inbuilt need to create. Creating is not just what she does, but who she is.

I hope I have been able to do justice to this amazing and generous woman.

About the artist

Julie Vernon has been working as a part-time artist since 2004, having studied Visual Arts at TAFE from 2001 to 2004. She completes commissions for portraits, pet portraits, and landscapes. Julie has been a finalist in The Percivals six times (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024).

Having retired from the workforce in 2023, Julie says she now has “the privilege to indulge my passion for art for a large part of my time. I have a few projects in progress and hope the fulfilment of these projects will help to expand me within the art world.”

Peter WEGNER

James – Tasmania (detail) 2023

Portrait of James Jennings

Oil on canvas

40 x 60 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This portrait of James Jenning was drawn and painted in Southern Tasmania. I painted James because of his flamboyant nature. He is a larger-than-life character and passionate about the arts and passionate about life. Portraits are like time capsules, and this moment is caught upon the arrival of James and Nicole’s baby son Jack. This portrait is about a new beginning. James is in a relaxed and inquisitive moment and the worn couch is almost symbolic of the past as James considers the future. l like the idea that a portrait can hold within it the story of the sitter but also allows the viewer to reassemble the image and consider their own narrative.

About the artist

Peter Wegner is a figurative artist, who holds a Master of Fine Arts by Research from Monash University. A prolific painter, printmaker and sculptor, Peter has had his work included in group shows at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. In recent years, Peter completed a series on centenarians, resulting in winning the 2021 Archibald Prize for his portrait of artist and centenarian Guy Warren.

Residencies include the Cité Internationale des Arts Residency, Bundanoon and Hill End Residencies. His work is held in the collections of the Art Gallery of NSW; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Victoria; and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.

Geordie WILLIAMSON

A Sticky Situation (detail) 2023

Portrait of Geordie Williamson

Oil on board

101.6 x 76.2 cm

Image courtesy of Lucas Williamson.

About the artwork

I selected myself for this piece for two main reasons: (1) I wanted to explain the restriction and discomfort and hard to name emotions that I was experiencing at the time of painting, and well before; and (2) to ensure I didn’t offend anyone with an inaccurate portrayal, in the event that the painting didn’t turn out as expected, given this was only my second time of painting the human form – my second time painting, in fact. “A Sticky Situation” is a metaphorical representation of discomfort. Designed to be visually pleasing, but conceptually, it is a bit harder to look at. The tape wraps awkwardly around the face, sticking and pulling. The neutrality of the expression shows the acceptance of discomfort as a mundane, perpetual state of life.

About the artist

Geordie (Gem) Williamson is a 16-year-old student visual artist, working primarily in oils and coloured pencil, drawing and painting realistic human/animal portraiture. Geordie began working in coloured pencil in September 2021, and oils in May 2023.

Despite his youth, Geordie has already been the recipient of several awards and completes private commissions for pets and animals. At Daylesford Art Show, he was awarded Best in Show and Best Animalia for two pieces (2023) and Best Junior (2022). Two of Geordie’s works appeared at Camberwell Art Show in 2023, and he exhibited in and was awarded Best Junior at Woodend Rotary Art Show (2022).

Steve WOMERSLEY

Warwick Capper (detail) 2024

Portrait of Warwick Capper

Inkjet print

180 x 113 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

I was covering Grand Final Day 2023 for the Bendigo Times when someone tipped me off to AFL great Warwick Capper making an appearance at a local pub. Soon after I arrived, Warwick made his entrance. From the moment he walked through the door, he was ON. He was generous and funny, and soaked up the attention. It looked exhausting. When he kindly agreed to let me take his portrait at his home in Melbourne in early 2024, my aim was to capture a quieter moment that still represented his irrepressible extroversion and sense of humour.

About the artist

Steve Womersley lives and works as a freelance photographer on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in Central Victoria. In 2023 he earned an Advanced Diploma of Photography from Photography Studies College, Melbourne. In 2022 and 2023 respectively, he won Victorian Country Press Association awards for Best Photo Essay and Best News Photo. In 2022 he was a finalist in the Maldon Portrait Prize, and in 2020 he was Runner Up in the Portrait category of Capture magazine’s Top Emerging Photographers for 2020.

Christine WREST-SMITH

Self Portrait with Purple Glove (detail) 2023

Portrait of Christine Wrest-Smith

Oil on linen

92 x 76 cm

Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artwork

This painting reflects the level of concentration I adopt when painting a self-portrait, requiring the scrutiny and objectivity needed to study one’s image.

I was drawn to the idea and risk of wearing a white shirt while working – the medium and process of oil paint being the natural enemy of the clean and crisp shirt.

Many artists wear gloves when painting for health reasons; the skin is porous and some pigments need to be used with care. But the wearing of gloves has potential narratives on offer.

As I initially considered the inclusion and colour of my gloves for this work, a meaning and purpose sprang to mind.

The colour purple symbolised the Suffragette women’s movement at the beginning of the 20th century, so for me, the very appropriate context for my purple gloves is to represent the strength of women in every aspect.

About the artist

For almost 30 years, Christine Wrest-Smith has worked as a full-time artist, predominantly in portraiture and figurative works. She has an Honours Degree in Fine Art completed at Monash University in Melbourne.

She has also studied art in Spain and Italy as well as done study tours of Berlin, London and Scotland.

Christine has had 22 solo exhibitions and been a selected finalist in many of Australia’s leading portrait and group exhibitions, including The Percivals, the Lester Prize, Portia Geach, Len Fox, Salon des Refusés, Naked and Nude, Calleen, Rick Amor Prize; she was also a semi-finalist in the Doug Moran Prize.

Her work is held in the Cowra Regional Gallery collection, the Whitehorse collection (Melbourne), several corporate collections including Melbourne University, and private collections overseas.

PERCIVALS PROGRAMS

Townsville City Council Galleries are proud to offer multiple ways for the public to get involved in The Percivals

From talks and tours to workshops and interactive elements, plenty is happening during the exhibitions!

Free Activity Books and Interactive Guides have been designed in response to the exhibitions and are targeted at various members of the public. The fun-filled Activity Book guides children through engaging activities.

The Interactive Guide is designed for students and adults to be immersed in portraiture with further information and interactive elements.

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Make sure to sign up to our Galleries E-newsletter to keep up to date on exhibitions, programs, awards, opportunities, and expressions of interest.

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery

Cnr Denham Street and Flinders Street, Townsville QLD 4810 (07) 4727 9011 galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au

Pinnacles Gallery

Riverway Arts Centre 20 Village Boulevard, Thuringowa Central QLD 4817 (07) 4773 8871 galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au

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