The National Portrait Gallery has announced the winners of the People’s Choice Awards in the Darling Portrait Prize and the National Photographic Portrait Prize.


Klarissa Dempsey’s portrait of her daughter Tayla, shown above, has won the People’s Choice Award in this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize. © Klarissa Dempsey.

Klarissa Dempsey received the coveted People’s Choice Award for Wonder, a portrait of her daughter Tayla playing on Country homelands near Alice Springs. This moment was captured on Country homelands, where Tayla spends her time playing endlessly with her brothers and sister and cousins, riding bikes, walking to the creeks, playing with the dogs and being carefree. Klarissa wins Fine Art printing to the value of $2,200 thanks to SUNSTUDIOS. The NPPP is the National Portrait Gallery’s long-running and popular annual prize for photography.  Now in its 13th year, it is one of the highlights of the NPG’s exhibition calendar.  The 2020 winner was Rob Palmer for his portrait of Sydney whole-fish chef Josh Niland, who took home a $30,000 cash prize and photographic equipment from Canon Australia.

David Darcy, has won the People’s Choice Award in this year’s for his portrait of his neighbour, 86-year-old farmer and environmentalist Wendy Bowman, shown above. Darcy, based in the Upper-Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, is a successful photographer and people’s favourite (he won the National Photographic Portrait Prize People’s Choice award in 2016) who only began painting two years ago. His subject, Wendy Bowman is an 86 year-old farmer and environmentalist from Camberwell, in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. In 2017 Wendy was awarded the international Goldman Environmental Prize – the world’s pre-eminent environmental award for grassroots conservation – after she won a legal victory against mining company Yancoal, that halted the development of a 315 hectare coal mine that would have consumed her farm. Wendy has endured three decades of battling the multinational mining companies that surround her property. She has been evicted and relocated, but continues to fight for the rights of landholders.

Now that the NPG has reopened in Canberra, the NPPP and Darling Portrait Prize exhibitions are on show until Sunday 26 July.  Further info and bookings via https://portrait.gov.au/.  Online content and new digital programs are available via PortraitureComesHome on https://portrait.gov.au/