Image: National Portrait Gallery
Nathan Beard has won the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2026 for ‘Mae Khong’, a 2026 portrait of his aunt. The announcement was issued by the National Portrait Gallery on 21 August, with Beard receiving a cash prize of $30,000 from the Gallery and photographic equipment valued at $20,000 from Canon Australia, the competition’s imaging partner.
The winning image shows an elderly woman seated on a blue plastic chair, facing away from the camera. Water droplets remain visible on her body after she has bathed for the evening. Although the subject’s face is not shown, the photograph’s close composition and limited palette place attention on her posture, the surface of her skin and the intimacy of the moment.
The judges described the work as having “an immediate and compelling emotional pull”. They highlighted its soft blue tones and “the vulnerability of a private yet familiar pose”, saying that the image creates “a portrait of palpable intimacy” despite withholding the sitter’s face. The panel also identified both resilience and fatigue in Mae’s posture, and linked the image’s candid quality to the familial connection between Beard and his aunt.
‘Mae Khong’ is presented as part of the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery in Parkes, ACT, Australia. The exhibition is open until 11 October 2026. The Gallery’s published visitor information lists its location as King Edward Terrace, Parkes, ACT 2600, and its regular opening hours as 10am to 5pm daily, except 25 December.
The announcement also recognises two other artists within the prize exhibition. Phuong Nguyen Le received the First Time Finalist Award, worth $3,000 from EIZO, for the 2025 diptych ‘Nghỉ/Nghiêm (Attention/At ease)’. The monochrome work presents a man first standing at attention with his hand raised in salute, then in a relaxed position, rubbing his neck. According to the judges, the work connects its photographic method to the history of war and conflict and uses duplication to convey the complexity of its subject’s wartime experience.
Hussein Abdirahman Mohamud received the Art Handlers’ Award, also worth $3,000, for ‘UNTITLED: 01’, 2025, from the series ‘What Remains?’. The photograph depicts Eedo/Aunt Khadija inside her residence in the Flemington public housing estate, surrounded by personal belongings and looking directly at the camera. The Gallery’s art-handling team said the work’s setting, including cardboard boxes, tissues and a picture removed from the wall, evoked the disruption and instability associated with losing a home. Voting for the People’s Choice Award remains open, with the winning artist due to receive $10,000 from the Calvert-Jones Foundation.
