By Jed Lanyon
Warburton photographer Suzanne Phoenix was named as a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize, which placed her work alongside the countries’ top photographers.
Star Mail reported on Ms Phoenix’s incredible achievement in April, but her selected portraits have only now just been released for public viewing as part of the exhibition in Canberra.
Ms Phoenix had the rare opportunity of having two of her portraits feature in the exhibition, joining just one other photographer out of the 79 total finalists to the National Portrait Gallery.
Ms Phoenix said having her work featured in the exhibition was a “life goal” of hers.
“It’s very exciting and validating to be selected as a finalist, it feels quite surreal,” she said.
Unfortunately the recent Covid-19 outbreak means that the local photographer won’t be able to see her work in-person just yet as restrictions on interstate travel remain in place.
“Myself and about 10 friends were all planning on going to the opening. We had our accommodation booked and a big road trip planned but we had to cancel that a couple weeks ago.
“It’s an understatement to say it’s disappointing, but I know there’s a lot worse things happening in the world. It’s an interesting paradigm not being able to see your own work on the walls, but I’m hoping sometime I’ll be able to see it in the flesh.”
Ms Phoenix shared that she was recently named as a finalist in the Martin Kantor Portrait Prize in Ballarat. An exhibition she hopes she will be able to attend in the near future.
Ms Phoenix’s first portrait, ‘The Wobbly Wizard’ was part of her Isolation Portraits series taken during Victoria’s first and second lockdowns. As part of the series, Ms Phoenix photographed about 65 families and over 100 individuals from the Upper Yarra region.
Her photograph captures Gerard and his dog Miss Tala Waggytail who were living in a tent in the forest and enjoying not being hassled to move on, with ‘personal space’ being in fashion.
The second photograph captures ‘Carlos, Jono and Lazy Susan’ and was one of over 50 virtual portraits created by Ms Phoenix during the worst of Victoria’s second lockdown as part of her Artists in Residence project.
Ms Phoenix documented Carlos Mantilla, Jono Martinez and Robbie Sinclair Ten Eyck (Lazy Susan) on what they described as one of the hardest days of their lockdown.
“They were there for each other with a smile, like every other day. To quote Lazy Susan, ‘Drag is art about survival’,” Ms Phoenix said.
“That photo epitomises that further stage of lockdown where we couldn’t see anyone in person and that (project) was a great way to stay connected to my friends and the community and a way to be able to keep creating during that time.”
