A shortlist of 54 exceptional works has been chosen for exhibition at the Monash Gallery of Art as part of the 2022 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize.


© Danie MELLOR: ‘The far country 2022’; chromogenic print 180.0 x 240.0 cm; Courtesy of the artist and Tolarno Galleries (Melbourne).

Judges including artist, Rosemary Laing, Director of Agency and Senior Curator, Museums and Collections at University of Melbourne, Hannah Presley, and Director, Anouska Phizacklea, have chosen a shortlist of 54 works, from 1,334 images entered across a range of landscape, architectural and portrait photographs for this year’s William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize. The works created over the last twelve months display a diverse snapshot of contemporary photographic practice in Australia today. The list of finalists is as follows: Michele Aboud, Kay Abude, Jilamara Arts, Narelle Autio, Jack Ball, Ramak Bamzar, Arini Byng, Danica Chappell, Miriam Charlie, Jess Coldrey, Michael Cook, Michael Corridore, Sarah Cusack, Rebecca Dagnall, J Davies, Tamara Dean, Damian Dillon, Marian Drew, Rozalind Drummond, Sophie Dumaresq, Stephen Dupont, Odette England, Robert Fielding, Andrea Francolini, Amos Gebhardt, Mike Gillam, Ponch Hawkes, Petrina Hicks, Samantha Jade, Ayman Kaake, Shea Kirk, Janet Laurence, Honey Long and Prue Stent, Janelle Low, David Manley, Jesse Marlow, Janine McGuinness, Danie Mellor, Phuong Ngo, Selina Ou, Sanja Pahoki, Sonia Payes, Patrick Pound, Ruiqi Qiu, Kiron Robinson, Angus Scott, Cecilia Sordi Campos, David Stephenson, Margot Stewart, Cyrus Tang, The Huxleys, Lyndal Walker, Hilary Wardhaugh, and Lydia Wegner.

The competition offers a cash prize of $30,000 for the winning entry, which will be added to the MGA’s nationally significant collection of Australian photographs. The Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award will be voted by the public with the recipient receiving $5,000. One artist will also be selected for the $10,000 Wai Tang Commissioning Award which will coincide with the 2023 Bowness Photography Prize exhibition season. The exhibition will run from 29 September to 13 November, 2022, with the awards announcement on Thursday, 6 October.