The winners of this year’s prestigious Head On Photo Festival at Bondi have been unveiled at the launch of Australia’s largest photographic event, attracting close to half a million visitors to the iconic beachfront over the three-week event from November 9 to December 1.
The works of more than 600 emerging and professional photographers – blindly selected from a record 4,000 entries from around the world, make up the almost 100 free exhibitions bringing thought-provoking images to the public for a 15th year.
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This year, the HEAD ON PHOTO FESTIVAL features works from over thirty countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the UK, and the USA. |
| THE AWARDS |
$80,000 in cash and equipment was on offer across three categories: Portrait, Landscape and a new category, Exposure.
- Exposure Winner: Antonio Denti with Kids from generation Alpha growing in a world exponentially different from anything known by their predecessors, playing with technology while night falls in a primordial stretch of coast by Mount Etna’s volcano, in the Mediterranean.
- Portrait Winner: Drew Gardner for his black and white image of a descendant of a black slave from the US Civil war. It took three years to research and recreate, including the painstaking reconstruction of the costume. The sitter had to remain still for the 40 second exposure from the TinType camera from the 19th century.
- Landscape Winner: Kinga Wrona for his image of a house in La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands after the eruption of volcano Cumbre Vieja.
Category runners up:
- Portrait Runner Up Australia: Nathan Dyer’s portrait of Anne Clarke, a young Miriwoong woman from far north Western Australia in spurs and a LeBron James basketball singlet, which Dyer says is a complex mix of the past and present. Anne’s dream to work in the pastoral industry reflects a long tradition of Aboriginal stockwomen; her LeBron James singlet a nod to the growing influence of American culture.
- Portrait Runner Up International: Melinda Blauvelt’s portrait of a couple in the historical Canadian fishing village of Acadian.
- Landscape Runner Up Australia: Frances Suter, image of a face drawn on snow clumped on a tree in winter in Australia.
- Landscape Runner Up International: Tony McAteer looking at the unprecedented urbanisation of the Middle East.
- Exposure Runner up Australia: Sarah Cusack’s digital photograms of personal protective equipment (PPE) which provides protection from infectious particles but not from these dangers and varying psycho-emotional states suffered over time.
- Exposure Runner Up International: Hadas Motro for her image of the invasion of colourful and exotic monk parakeets threatening the delicate balance of nature.
Head On Photo Festival Director and founder Moshe Rosenzveig OAM said the festival is all about bringing art to the people who might not normally enjoy it.
“Cost of living pressures should not be a barrier to accessing art. These images are from some of the most well-known and newly discovered photographers in the world. We don’t want them hidden in empty galleries, we want it celebrated in public spaces where everyone can enjoy,” Mr Rosenzveig said.
“Sometimes an exhibition shines light on a group of people most of us hardly ever think about.
“These photographs tap into the rich tapestry of human experience, whether that’s from conflict zones, life in rural towns, quirky stories as well as major issues faced by countries around the world,” he said.
Here are some of the winning photos:
Head On 2024 will see exhibitions along Bondi’s oceanside promenade, The Bondi Pavilion Gallery, Paddington Reservoir Gardens and UTS campus which will be on display till 1st December 2024.
