2016 Moran Prizes Finalists Announced
Back again, this year's Moran Prizes have announced the best of Australian portraiture and photography finalists, who continue to capture the publics imagination.
The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize is Australia’s richest art prize with the winner receiving $150,000 and the Moran
Contemporary Photographic Prize winner receiving $50,000.
Artist Anne Wallace and Art Historian and Gallery Director Doug Hall. On the selection of portrait finalists this year, Hall stated, “The Prize attracted extraordinary interest from Australian artists and yet again confirms that portraiture in its many expressions holds its place as being central to Australian art. Works covered a vast array of techniques and approaches, ranging from traditional realism to robust expressionism. Hyperrealism and experimental approaches were also considered and the works selected for the exhibition reveal the reach of Australian portraiture.”
To see the full list of National Portrait finalists click here.
Amongst the 30 finalists for the 2016 MCPP are reportage, portrait, documentary and landscape images, covering the far north of Australia, the outback, the mountains, the coast & the cities, with Jon Jones commenting that the finalist selection is “a mixture of classic and contemporary photography that showcases the strength of the competition.”
Imagination takes priority for Alan Davies,who commented on the judging process,“Photography is a product of its technology and this year saw more low light images and photographs taken from drones. However, it was how some photographers used their imagination to produce exciting new images that impressed me.“
For the full list of Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize finalists click here.
Commenting on the enduring popularity of the Moran portrait prizes, Hall stated, “audiences continue to be fascinated by the human face and figure, and the myriad of ways in which it is seen and interpreted.”
The winners of the 2016 Moran Prizes will be announced on Wednesday 26 October at Juniper Hall in Paddington. The Moran Prizes exhibition opens to the public the following day and runs through to early 2017.
EXHIBITION
2016 Moran Prizes
Juniper Hall, Paddington
26 October – early 2017
Courtesy the artists and Moran Prizes
Through a multidisciplinary collaboration between Rotterdam-based curators, architect Paul Cournet of CLOUD and artist-designer Sabine Marcelis of Studio Sabine Marcelis, the exhibition explores the interplay...
Artificial intelligence will be used by young artists who started using it as kids on their phones. They will see it as a natural extension...
This year’s Biennale arrives under more complex circumstances than most. It is shaped by the profound loss of its curator, Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), whose exhibition...
No artist creates in isolation. Every painting carries traces of the conversations, places and histories that shaped it, preserving within its surface a particular moment...
The weekend markets at Fairfield Showground have been one of Western Sydney’s great institutions for more than fifty years. Fresh fruit and vegetables, children’s clothes,...
In recent times, Yorgos Lanthimos has shifted toward photography, noting in a Guardian interview, 2026, that he needs respite, saying, “it might be a couple...
In Australia, political cartoons were altered by several events during the 1960s: the arrival of Les Tanner’s (1927‒2001) instinctual wit at The Bulletin, Bruce Petty’s...
Recognition of the importance of early bark paintings and their link to the world’s oldest continuing culture, is what makes them both highly sought and...
I had come to see my daughter sing in Deborah Kelly’s Creation Choir and was fortunate enough to make it inside the gallery for the...