The Collie Art Gallery is pleased to announce the National Portrait Gallery's National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019 exhibition will be on display from April 26 - June 9.
Now in its 12th year, the annual exhibition draws from entries submitted by photographers across Australia.
The exhibition is supported by the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to the national collections for all Australians.
Collie Gallery Group chairperson Trudi Curran said the gallery was thrilled to hold the exhibition.
"The Collie Art Gallery is delighted to work in collaboration with the National Photographic Portrait Prize organisers and we look forward to being able to bring contemporary works from a national perspective to the public of Western Australia's South West Region," she said.
"We aim to promote emerging and established artists and we welcome the initiatives by both state and national programs that are enabling us to access works from state and national collections."
National Portrait Gallery of Australia travelling exhibitions co-ordinator Louise Cummins said Collie's gallery was a great space to exhibit their work.
"The National Portrait Gallery aims to showcase and investigate Australian identity and Australians' perspectives on not just each other but ourselves as well," she said.
"Collie has a really wonderful exhibition history and it's a relatively new gallery doing wonderful work.
"We really wanted to bring some of our exhibitions out here and to interact with the people of Collie and to hear their feedback and their Australian stories and cultural identity."
This year, 39 portraits were selected from more than 3,000 entries to form the exhibition.
The prize reflects the vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of subjects.
The overall winner, along with the winners of the highly commended award and the art handlers' awards were announced in Canberra before the tour.
Alana Holmberg was announced as the overall winner, Alex Vaughan was highly commended, and Elizabeth Looker won the art handlers' award.
To align with the exhibition, there will also be a free Tactile Selves Workshop on May 4, from 10.30 - 12.30pm for people aged eight-years-old or more.
Participants can explore textures by experimenting with different materials to create a self-portrait.
The exhibition will be launched at 6pm on Friday, April 26. For more information contact 9734 2921.
