Melbourne artist Kristina Kraskov has won the Art Handlers’ Award in this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize.
Kristina Kraskov’s image of Michelle the ‘suburban fashionista’, which took out the 2021 NPPP Art Handlers Award.
The winning image, which shows the subject physically immersed in the objects that define her was chosen by National Portrait Gallery Art Handlers Jessica Kemister and James Ley. It was taken by documentary filmmaker, Kristina Kraskov, who has an on-going interest in capturing people in their own spaces, ‘surrounded by small parts of themselves’. “Michelle’s house was the most drastic example of this I’d ever witnessed”, Kraskov said; “I couldn’t help but capture her in her element. Like the experience of meeting Michelle, the portrait is eclectic; she can get lost amongst the curated chaos, yet has an undeniable presence.” Kristina wins $2,000 thanks to IAS Fine Art Logistics.
The final in the NPPP suite of prizes if the $5000 People’s Choice Award, supported by the David Roche Foundation, will be announced in late October. Audiences can vote for their favourites via the NPG website, which provides a gallery of all the selected works. This year the NPPP judges, selected 79 works, more than double the usual amount, for its annual exhibition, which is open until 7 November 2021.
