We are very proud to announce the shortlist for APA 2024. These 300 pictures represent much of the deep, diverse and visionary storytelling that defines contemporary Australian photography and we couldn’t be more excited to see them all together. Congratulations to all those shortlisted and thank you to all participants.
Each of these images will be projected throughout Bodriggy Brewpub as part of the APA Event taking place on October 26th and 27th with artist talks and events for this weekend to be released soon. Stay tuned for the announcement of the finalists whose work will be displayed over the weekend in print.
Get your tickets to the APA Event Main Ceremony here.
Please find the 2024 APA galleries, presented in alphabetical order.
People
Finalist
Shortlist
Environment
Finalist
Shortlist
Documentary
Finalist
Shortlist
Animal
Finalist
Daniel Sly
A portrait of a leafy sea dragon found beneath Rapid Bay Jetty in South Australia. The late afternoon brings out a deep blue in the water column above, a narrow beam of light is used to illuminates the intricate, leaf-like appendages of the sea dragon giving it their excellent camouflaging ability
Emma Crook
The windows of our home reflect the sky, the coastal landscape, and the urban environment where I live; providing a thin barrier between the internal domestic intimacy of home and the elements of the external world. My husband built our home with his own hands and with this creative skill comes an honest understanding of the cost that our own way of living has on the other-than-human creatures, no matter how gently we tread. Each summer a variety of birds arrive and inhabit the old mulberry tree on the vacant block next door, and become intoxicated by the fermenting sweetness of the fruit. ‘At the end of summer’ is a part of an ongoing series called ‘Flight Call’ – a series that centers around how our home, its mirrored windows and the old fruit tree have an impact on the lives of the birds that visit during the summer months.
Georgina Steytler
Satin Bowerbirds are notoriously badly behaved. In this case, whilst this male was away from his bower, another male bird came in and destroyed his bower and making off with parts of his prized collections. When this male returned, he set about repairing the damage. I shot this through vegetation.
Jake Wilton
A leucistic green sea turtle hatchling is reflected below the waters surface as it rises to take a breath. Leucism is a genetic mutation pigment causing a pale or white colouring of the animal and is extremely rare amongst sea turtles. A special and cherished encounter while exploring the remote tropical islands of Papua New Guinea.
Rebecca Harrison
The Blue Morph Arctic Fox can survive in extreme cold conditions and are well adapted to it with enhanced blood circulation in their feet, extra hairy ears and paws! While I shivered in a blizzard, this little fox was completely comfortable with the temperature, out hunting for a daily meal.
Shortlist
Alexandrena Parker
My dad has more than 1,000 racing pigeons, and he tends to them every single day of the year. Each morning at 8 a.m, he lets them out, and they spend most of the morning soaring and circling around my childhood home before returning to their shed. During the racing season, he takes them all over Australia, releasing them to race back home. It's a mystery how racing pigeons find their way back, but they always return to their birthplace. Each of Dad's pigeons is identified by a metal ring with a unique number on their foot. Remarkably, I can point to a bird, and he can recite its number without even looking at the ring.
Annette Ruzicka
This is a threatened species, the grey-headed flying fox – forest pollinator and keystone species. In the summer of 23-24 they experienced a starvation event, resulting in a great deal of flying foxes venturing into backyards and orchards desperate for fruit. In Victoria, large aperture free tree nets (what you see wrapped around this bat’s foot) are illegal for sale and use. But is not policed and many bats die a long, painful death. All people need to do is use the right nets, please remember this face cloaked in pain and suffering when making such choices.
Clayton Harris
Upon welcoming the arrival of the 2024 Humpback whale migration along our coastline. I headed out to sea, to catch a glimpse of these majestic ocean travellers. With the smell of forest fires in the distance, a smoggy haze blanketed the horizon, softening the background of my composition. After sighting some activity in the distance, I readied myself in anticipation. All of a sudden an inquisitive juvenile surfaced near the boat followed by this fully grown humpback whale lunging from the depths. Towering above us, in what can only be described as the most incredible display of power by an animal, propelled by what is known to be the strongest muscle in the animal kingdom, the humpback whale tail.
Georgina Steytler
This is the golden morph of a white-tailed tropicbird found only on Christmas Island. It is an incredibly beautiful seabird but unfortnately it is most active during the hot part of the day in contrast light. In this case, I used the high contrast to advantage by exposing the bird against a cliff wall.
Innes Winchcombe
Feral deer have been an issue in Australia since the mid-19th century. Deer were introduced to Australia from Europe for recreational hunting and farming purposes between the 1860s and the 1880s. Over time, some of these deer escaped or were released into the wild, leading to the establishment of feral populations. Whilst this animal holds such negative connotations of being an invasive species meant to be killed, it's impossible not to gaze upon the gentle beauty of the deer standing serenely against Australia's natural flora. Its majestic yet calm presence makes you question the harsh reality it's facing.
Jake Wilton
A fever of manta rays work together performing the hunting technique known as cyclone feeding. The rays work together swimming in a circular formation to concentrate the plankton into one area creating an abundance of food. A behaviour only documented in two locations on earth. Photographed whiles freediving using natural light.
Lewis Burnett
The Skeleton coast of Namibia is a place of extremes. The worlds oldest desert spills into the water as it meets the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, bursting with life due to the cold water currents and upwellings. Photographing these vibrant flamingos in the early morning fog was one of the many highlights of our time in Namibia.
Marshall Wilson
A colony of gentoo penguins takes the Antarctic waters by storm. Known as the fastest underwater swimmers among penguins, gentoo penguins can reach speeds of up to 36 kilometers per hour. As I sat in a drifting kayak, I held my breath and steadied my hand to capture the fleeting moments as the group transitioned from a "waddle" on land to a "raft" in the sea.
Mohamed Rageeb
In Valour, the young Brown Goshawk's intense stance and open beak capture a moment of pure determination, showcasing this majestic bird's raw power and indomitable spirit. With its wings spread wide and neck extended forward, the Goshawk appears ready to conquer any obstacle that comes its way. This piece embodies the fearless pursuit of one's goals, illustrating the relentless drive and unwavering focus necessary to achieve greatness. The powerful imagery of the Goshawk in mid-action is a testament to the strength and resilience required to soar above life's challenges. Its fierce gaze and commanding presence remind us that true grit and tenacity are essential qualities for overcoming adversity. Valour celebrates the unyielding spirit and the courage to take bold actions in the face of uncertainty.
Nathan Watson
After spending several mornings sitting quietly in the bush staking out this beautiful native Banksia Coccinea, I was treated to this wonderful moment with a tiny Honey Possum. Hanging by its tail and gripping a leaf with its front paws for balance, the possum paused its climb down the banksia to lick up the last sticky drips of nectar from its whiskers. Honey Possums are predominantly nocturnal and the world’s only truly nectivorous (nectar-eating) marsupial with a diet of nectar and pollen, and it plays a crucial role in the pollination of the native flowering plants they feed on. In terms of size, they weigh between 7 to 10 grams with a tail about 80 to 100mm long – longer than its body and head combined.
Nathan Watson
There are few places are more magical than my local harbour at sunrise, but in autumn it can be particularly special. It’s the time of year when a combination of mist and light creates the most breathtaking scenes. This morning was no exception, with the sea fog filtering the rising sun and casting a heavenly-like light across the water as a Great Egret waded past.
Rebecca Harrison
Tawny Frogmouths are often mistaken for owls, and while they share some features (like being nocturnal) they don't have curved talons on their feet. This little family were sleeping during the day but their little new edition - Junior - was wide awake! With a bit of fluffy down stuck on his beak, he was still more interested in watching the world.
Samantha Roche
My husband Simon is a wildlife volunteer each spring on Ngunnawal Country (Canberra, ACT). Every time we slow down to contemplate the fragility of five grams of bird in hand, it's safe to say our tendencies to ruminate with worry subside. Much like Anne Lamott, we now approach life bird by bird.
Theresa Lee
This magnificent giant Goanna is known as Gerald by the locals on Shelly Beach, NSW, where he can be seen most mornings on this rock waiting for sunrise. I chose monochrome to better illustrate his distinctive markings while camouflaging himself on the timeworn rock, rather like his pre-historic ancestors.
Experimental
Finalist
Aletheia Casey
This image explores the concepts of permanence and impermanence, reflecting on themes of ephemerality, time, and memory, and considering what endures after a profound loss. Created in the wake of my mother's death, this work is an exploration of on-going grief and the persistent, unanswerable question: ‘Where is she now?’ Made as a collaboration with my son, Adelchi, and part of a broader body of work, this image represents my personal journey toward understanding birth, mortality and the mysteries that lie beyond. The image on the left was made entirely in the darkroom from paper and found materials which form a constructed and imaginary landscape, while the image on the right was photographed in Currarong creek and printed in the colour darkroom with acetate and paper overlays.
Buzz Gardiner
Blackbirding involves the enforced slavery and removal of individuals from their native lands. This practice took place throughout islands in the Pacific in the 19th and 20th Century, with many individuals forced to work on plantations in Australia, among other colonial settlements. In texts about blackbirding there are sporadic references to spaces that Pacific Islanders, specifically Melanesians, frequented: Spear fishing at Cudgen creek, a gathering on ‘islander hill’, and the mango trees in Broader Duranbah. These spaces were lost with the introduction of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901. In line with the White Australia Policy, the Pacific Island Labourers Act increased the proportion of white labourers by enabling the subsequent deportation of Pacific Islanders found in Australia after 1906. Exemptions could be judged on ‘ties established in Australia and compliance with Australian values’, though few were granted. This period of deportation, assimilation and the threat of being identified as an Islander, resulted in the erasure of many communities of Melanesians and made it difficult to assert Melanesian heritage through identity or place. Through this image (and the others in this series), I have tried to reimagine these places by blending photographs of my surrounds that I’m drawn to for their resemblance to the islands, with digital images drawn from images of the Pacific by NGOs and national museums. It is a form of repurposing. Banyan trees are a traditional meeting place for villages in Vanuatu. I realise the tree pictured is probably a fig - but that’s the point.
Francoise Schneiders
During Covid I lived in Hanoi (2020-2022), Vietnam. Like many around the world we found ourselves under a long and very strict lockdown, only allowed out of our apartment to meet food deliveries at a guarded gate 50 metres from our doorstep. I can’t recall how long we lived like this, what I do remember is an intense yearning to be in nature, away from the unforgiving concrete of the city and the encroaching walls of our apartment. As soon as the restrictions were relaxed, we fled to the mountains of northwest Vietnam. Arriving in the lush green landscape, I was suddenly overwhelmed; it was a feeling like coming home and reconnecting with loved ones. In response, I began to photograph all that was nurturing me; a waterfall, koi fish, moss covered rocks, leaves, trees, dirt and the sky. Nature. I wanted something to keep, something to take home with me. Not least to sustain me in the face of future lockdowns. But when I returned to my studio and transferred the files, they were all damaged. Digital glitches scratched strips from my images, leaving unnaturally perfect scars. I was devastated at the loss. As I studied the images, I began to see that the marks revealed my presence in the images. Suddenly, I was confronted by the revelation that these scars mirrored my impact as a tourist and photographer, damaging these beautiful places. A contradiction that can’t be reconciled, damaging the very thing I sought to embrace. The concrete city I had fled was once a place of pristine rivers and valleys, now gone under the weight of human activity. And my flight into the arms of nature was a thread-like finger of the city itself, reaching out to take hold with its deathly grip.
Canberra Photographer Hilary Wardhaugh
“A Meditation of Death” comprises of 12 digitised lumen prints. This work employs a meditative process by piercing 2000 tiny holes per 8x10” sheet of black card and then placing that stencil over light sensitive papers and exposing it to sunlight. Each lumen print was photographed and a subsequent digital print was made. The dots serve as visual metaphors for the countless lives lost in Gaza, (24,000 at the time of making the work on 3rd January 2023). Each dot is a poignant representation of a soul extinguished by the ravages of war. In this collection of tiny stars, the artwork bears witness to the human toll exacted by conflict, urging us to confront the harsh realities of our shared humanity and inhumanity by not allowing a ceasefire. The conceptual foundation of “A Meditation of Death” draws inspiration from the Maranasati meditation, a contemplative practice centred on the inevitability of death. This meditation aligns with the artwork’s overarching theme, encouraging introspection on the consequences of violence and also the impermanence of life. Though war and death should not be inevitable. The historical use of lumen prints further enriches the narrative, as these light drawings, captured through photography, echo the fleeting nature of existence. As an artist, my intent is to challenge the notion that historically war resolves anything; instead, it perpetuates generations of suffering, breeding hate through acts of terror. Through the delicate, labour-intensive yet meditative process of creating the lumen prints and the subsequent digital prints “A Meditation of Death” seeks to evoke empathy that transcends borders and ideologies.
With apologies to Dupain
Through the re-imagining of Max Dupain’s 1937 image ‘The Sunbaker’ as a human kangaroo hybrid, this work examines the relationship between the photographic representation of Kangaroos and their cultural relevance to Australia. Just as the 1937 image depicted an idealized national identity, The Sunbaker re-imagined shows a peaceful scene, in which the creature calmly lazes on the sand in isolation. The kangaroo’s ancestors climbed down from the trees at least 15 million years ago and have watched on as the first people arrived on these shores. Despite their ancient lineage to this land, the daily vernacular of image sharing both social and traditional media delight in stories of Kangaroo attacks and the perpetuation of the rhetoric that they are both dangerous and abundant. Yet all Macropods are prey animals, evolved to flee from threats whilst female Kangaroos can carry one joey to term within 12 months, biological facts that dispel the folklores of their nature. The work aims to draw parallels between representation, iconography visibility, collective consciousness and societal attitudes toward animals. By investigating the historical and ongoing role of photography in the representation of animals, the work investigates how colonial (mis) understandings of animal-human relations have led to the iconic species being maligned in settler culture. In addition, the work questions the place of the Kangaroo in photographic art, provoking the viewer to question the iconography of Australian photography and the legacy of colonialism that remains.
Sari Sutton
From a new body of darkroom work investigating the human quest to explore and understand our place in the cosmos. It is an exploration of dark and light, science, curiosity, mystery and revelation. This image is a unique photogram created through experimentation with darkroom chemicals on Ilford photographic paper.
Starry Kong
I have been sensitive, pessimistic, and introverted since childhood. Coupled with the invasion of depression, I have lost vitality in life. Compared to optimistic, energetic, and positive people around me, I feel like I am defective. However, I cannot be reborn or self-formatted. In order to integrate with others, groups, and society, as well as to regain the sense of belonging that I have lost, I constantly disguised myself. Eventually, I realised that everything was just self-deception — something that is absent cannot be obtained through pretence, and something that has already been lost cannot be recovered through force of will. Therefore, from the beginning till now, I have always been alone, and feel like I will be forever.
Shortlist
Aletheia Casey
This work is a personal meditation on the climate crisis in Australia, linking its colonial history with its fragile climate future. Through manipulated and recontextualised images, this work uses past environmental catastrophes as a backdrop to explore on-going environmental change. As Australia oscillates through cycles of drought, fires, and floods, this work investigates the intersection of colonialism and climate change. The altered landscapes act as visual metaphors for both the external devastation caused by climate change and my own feelings of powerlessness amidst this persistent catastrophe. The brushstrokes applied to the prints reflect human intervention in nature, with my hand striving to impose control over the uncontrollable. This manipulation of the images is my way of implanting into them my personal response at the continual destruction of nature whilst simultaneously attempting to find beauty and hope amid the tragedy of these lost places.
Aurelie Beeston
Cyanotype - Rain water, creek water, mud. In 2022, a rain bomb flooded my home, destroying our belongings while we were away. Not being there when it happened has been a blessing and curse as every storm now induces anxiety. This cyanotype is part of a series that aims to represent that event. It was created during a storm and with some water from the creek that inundated us. Through this process, I aim to take control over the elements that brought chaos into our lives. In the end, the outcome is always dictated by nature. Every cyanotype a one off event and unpredictable, like what happened to my home.
Aurelie Beeston
Cyanotype from a photograph, creek water, garden mud. In 2022, a rain bomb flooded my home, destroying our belongings while we were away. Not being there when it happened has been a blessing and a curse as every storm now induces anxiety. This cyanotype is part of a series that aims to represent that event. It was created with water from the creek that inundated us, mud from the garden and a photograph of one of my favorite plant in the garden. Through this process, I aim to take control over the elements that brought chaos into our lives. The outcome is always dictated by nature in the end, making every cyanotype unique and unpredictable.
Ben Hattingh
Untitled (Sirens) is a large-scale experimental photograph capturing the side of a home during an emergency response. Taken with a long exposure, the image reveals the flashing lights of a fire truck as they wash over the house, creating an abstract interplay of blue, red, and purple hues. Printed in the dark room, this piece embodies the chaos and beauty found in a moment of crisis, where the ordinary transforms into a surreal, illuminated scene.
Carrie Jones
Women’s Water music, from the remote northern islands of Vanuatu, is created with fluid motion, as the women harmoniously scoop, splash, swirl and sing. The water is more than their instrument it becomes an extension of themselves as they weave their culture and tradition through air and water. To capture the two in camera, women and water as separate entities meeting, didn’t reflect the feeling of the performance. Rather a slow shutter speed blended the two, creating an almost painterly effect, a much stronger reflection of the rich rhythmic tapestry of sounds they produced.
Chloe Bartram
The invention of photography had a significant impact on the scientific and astronomical community, moving our visual record of the world around us from the field of speculation to that of documentation. Aiding our vision and extending our eyes, telescopes and microscopes allow us to see distances and phenomena typically too far or too small to see. Ultra-violet, X-rays and gamma rays have now moved our sight of light to something more than the eye can see, fixing internal shadows as indicators of disease and cancer. The photograph told us who won the horse race and allowed the Milky Way to be held in our hands. Speaking to that history is the Calver Telescope, still in use at the Perth Observatory, that travelled to Wallal, Western Australia, 100 years ago to capture a solar eclipse. To peer through a telescope is to time travel to the past while photography seals the past to the present. A pearl shell from Cygnet Bay resides on the dinosaur fossils at Gantheaume Point and references this sealing of history from a Western Australian colonial perspective.
Christopher Allery
Travelling the coastline of the Aomori Prefecture (Japan) via rapid train in Winter, 2023, I photographed the passing seascape through the train windows. In the weeks that followed the trip, I began to question what psychological landscapes were created from the experience. ‘Memory/Landscape VI’, through digital processing marks - and unlocks - the intersection of personal memory with the captured image. This work seeks to celebrate the remoteness and beauty of this World Heritage listed site, while recognising the environmental vulnerability of this geographical location due to such phenomena as climate change.
Lost in Confusion
In creating Lost in Confusion I utilised an unconventional process to capture the image, then applied a printing technique which I believe is unique. I 3D printed a depth map and cast it into hydrocal gypsum. I then positionally registered an emulsion float, and finally, an epoxy resin was applied. The final print was re-photographed then retouched. Text to Image AI was not used in the production of Lost in Confusion.
Dulcie May
The white dress represented as purity and innocence is symbolic of the lifestyle choices and beauty pressures and expectations of women in society. The slouched pose expresses sorrow and acceptance as the subject is both isolated and idolised sitting on the stool. Ongoing unrealistic pressures to conform to society’s standards and the feelings of vulnerability and fragility is explored through the transparency of the dress with dramatic contrast and texture. This self – portrait also represents my own struggles as a woman and my aim to challenge societal norms.
Elle Leontiev
"Into the Light" is an experimental underwater series that combines digital photography, ink, chlorinated pool water, and darkroom techniques to create a captivating final image. The central focus is the model, floating gracefully in mid-water, illuminated by rays of light that adorn her body and environment. The photographer enhanced this digital image with an innovative photogram technique. Ilford photosensitive paper was placed in a tub filled with chlorinated pool water. The photographer, then using two paintbrushes—one dipped in detergent and the other in carbon ink—created concentric marbelled rings on the water's surface. The enlarger then projected light onto the photo paper, capturing the marbled ink patterns as they floated and spread on the water surface. These patterns, resembling light rays, were then scanned and layered over the digital image, creating a mesmerizing interplay of light and form for her unique study of water.
Erkin Kalayci
This experimental composition encapsulates the essence of memory and heritage. At its core, my father is a constant presence, a pillar of identity, surrounded by the ever-shifting landscapes of his childhood and ancestral places. The juxtaposition of these varying sceneries—his home, the fields, the vineyards—echoes the journey of life, where the soul remains steadfast even as the world around it evolves. This image explores the interplay between constancy and change, capturing the enduring connection between a person and the places that shaped them.
Evan Fowler
This in-camera double exposure explores themes of dissociation and surrealism. Layers of imagery overlap, creating a dreamlike visual where reality blurs and the self becomes fragmented. The composition evokes a sense of detachment, reflecting the mind’s escape into alternate realities, where the boundaries between what’s real and imagined dissolve.
Earthly
"In 'Earthly', I’m bringing nature to the studio. Even though we're usually surrounded by buildings and roads, this series reminds us that we're all part of nature. With clay-covered models and real plants, it's a dreamy escape into our natural roots, right in the middle of the city. All photos were taken in a studio at Brazil. All the models are covered with clay, all the plants are natural."
Genevieve Milnes
As a photographer of the biodiversity in the Great Southern of WA I am continually amazed by the earth colours that emerge. I wanted to capture these colours at a cellular level so began to experiment with photos I had taken of local ground orchids and wildflowers. This was a photo of a native primrose. I concentrated on the stamens, just capturing the various browns and the result was an organic earthen mosaic reminiscent of Aboriginal art.
Jan Adam Les
This work is a digital synthesis of four photographs, a simple combination of four overlay images. Photos of spider nests is blended with a photo of the painted with butter milk composition, which I have created on a glass, with embedded elements of flowers and leaves. This is continuation of my Micro-Macro Synthesis series, which started long time ago and which aims to unite different views of elements of our world into a one synthetic imaginary landscape.
Julius Moller
My father grew up in the Outback, and his stories of a childhood spent in the bush always held a certain romanticism. On a recent trip to the Red Centre, I saw my father transported back to the memories of his youth by the landscapes we travelled through - stories from another place and another time, but always present.
Kelly Marie Slater
This image presents a black and white rendition of a double exposure, created in-camera. By rotating the camera 180 degrees for the second exposure, abstract forms a revealed within the topography. This image is part of a series I am developing to center myself in my experience of place.
Kelly Marie Slater
This image presents a black and white rendition of a double exposure, created in-camera. By rotating the camera 180 degrees for the second exposure, abstract forms a revealed within the topography. This image is part of a series I am developing to center myself in my experience of place.
Kyle Hoffmann
An exposure of the sun rising out of the Coral Sea, captured on Tjapukai land. I have been chasing this image for months using a medium format film camera, waking up before the sun emerged on the horizon, fighting with the elements to capture the image I had in mind. Unexpectedly, this process made me think of the first people and how these early sun cults emerged. Even today, my circadian rhythm has shifted, and I still feel drawn to go out and witness the sun emerge over the horizon, feeling the first rays of warm light. Standing there before each daybreak, you witness this unique experience, yet it is also shared with those who have come before us and after. My work is inspired by the natural world and the fundamental hidden phenomena that shape our human experience. Fascinated by these mechanisms and the movements of deep time, I explore how they influence our perceived reality, transformed by different cultural contexts and shaped by the viewer’s personal history and experience.
Louise Faulkner
At some point this aged photo was torn from its album and discarded. I found it in a second-hand store decades later. Contemplations of this lost past disturb me, the photo subject made anonymous, someone else’s memories now forgotten. I recontextualize this found photo, rephotograph him, reveal his image’s past. He is again considered, seen and remembered, and the past memorialised.
Lucas Leo Catalano
In a far corner of a simulation inside the virtual world of Second Life, the program loads a set of Non Playable Characters (NPC). Due to the complexity of the NPC they take time to download. A technique to speed up the process is to load them in quantity in a out of sight area. Taken from the photo-series A Photographic Journey Through Second Life. Taken from the photo-series A Photographic Journey Through Second Life. As we increasingly digitise more and more aspects of our lives with social media, video-games, and the internet, A Photographic Journey Through Second Life cautions us to not lose sight of what makes us human when wandering too far into the digital landscape. The photographs take us on a journey inside the pioneering virtual reality world of Second Life, an internet program that offers its users a chance to reinvent themselves and reshape the universe. The photos start by showcasing the inspiring kaleidoscope of lives residents of Second Life live, but as the book progresses, the photographs highlight how loose our grip on reality can become inside virtual worlds, leaving you questioning everything, even the author, the photographs, and especially the emulation of the human condition.
Michael Currie
Half a second exposure reveals the flash of hot gases and twisting paths of the burning propellant into the night sky of a round that is traveling at hundreds of meters per second. A counter intuitive approach to speed, by slowing the camera down you capture the movement, intensity and beauty as Australian Army soldiers train for nighttime mortar missions, firing illumination rounds on a freezing cold night at Puckapunyal in May 2024.
Paradise Valley
We once went camping at Paradise Valley on the Macalister River. I had got my hands on some professional fireworks. I didn’t really know what I was doing and they kind of got out of control. It was a memorable night. Created with MidJourney Generative AI and then further work was done in Photoshop.
Tamara Voninski
Women gather at dawn for Summer Solstice rituals in Sabile, Latvia to welcome the sunrise and the longest day of the year. The Pagan cultural rituals welcome fertility and harvest. Solstice is the only time of the year that married women can wear flower wreaths. In Latvia, I explored female based summer rituals celebrated by my own ancestors before they immigrated overseas from Europe in 1918. To evoke a sense of memory, I created a series of Polaroid transfers and in a twist on the traditional photographic practice, exposed the prints to summer sunlight with droplets of water from the local spring under plastic to create the cracked surface.
Theresa Lee
Experimenting with metaphoric imagery through my love of flowers is my favoured form of expression through visual story telling. In March 2023 my husband Stephen died. While his death wasn’t unexpected, as he suffered from a long-term illness, his death still came as a huge shock. For me grief feels like this floating flower. It is an intense feeling of detachment. Since losing Stephen over a year ago now, I still find it’s the intimacy and sense of touch I miss the most.
Road Tripping
Hand held from the passenger seat of a car traveling around 80 km/hour through a 3-minute exposure in New Zealand’s South Island, this mountainous scene was captured by allowing myself the freedom to play. My aim has been to create a more painterly interpretation of Queenstown’s rolling hills and in their distinctive earthy tones.
Theresa Lee
On a windy hot summer’s day this may not be the beachy image you’d have in mind. Intentionally choosing a long exposure App on my smartphone I wanted to bring a more painterly look to Main Beach on the Gold Coast in sunny Queensland. My aim was to create an impressionistic photograph in black and white while conveying a sense of ambiguity.
Xander Linger.
This diptych, and wider series, were created on early morning walks through the Dandenong Ranges with my newborn daughter. The negatives themselves were developed using a Eucalyptus Regnans bark extraction combined with water from Sherbrooke creek, both collected while on our morning constitutional. This is done for both reasons of sustainability – in an effort to move away from the traditional, more toxic chemicals – but also to allow subject matter, in this case a hugely important element of the temperate rainforest, to play an active role in the creation of the artwork. It was while trudging through the bracken and under these towering Mountain Ash, and with Lola’s warm body and light snores for company, that I noticed how much human hands and history have, and continue to, leave their marks, even deep in this seemingly pristine ‘natural’ forest. Inspired by Karen Barad’s Agential Realism and her ideas of the vast, intertwined and dynamic nature of ‘intra-active’ phenomena, I sought out silent moments of entanglement that blurred the lines between the false dichotomy of the ‘natural/unnatural’ or ‘human/non-human’. I find that this divide does real violence by upholding a “man has dominion over all of the earth” status quo that is a root cause of our climate crisis. Highlighting and celebrating our entanglement is also personally important as I have real questions about raising a child in this current climate and how our (in)decisions today have and will leave their trace upon and within my little girl.
Student
Finalist
Shortlist
