The National Portrait Gallery has announced that Nathan Beard has won the 2026 National Photographic Portrait Prize with a portrait of his Thai-born aunty Mae Khong recuperating after a debilitating fall.
Judges Isobel Parker Philip (NPG Director, Curatorial and Collection) Gillian Raymond (NPG Director, Engagement and Experience) and Mark Mohell (NPG Imaging Services Manager and Photographer) said Beard’s portrait has an “immediate and compelling emotional pull.”
Photographed following one of several similar medical scares, Beard’s portrait captures Mae bathing herself. “The only surviving member of her generation in my immediate family, her flesh and memory are vital to sustaining my relationship with our cultural legacy,” he said.
“Insisting she bathe herself independently, her resilience in this vulnerable state is evident in the image and allows me to share the potent strength and intimacy of bonds which forge my sense of cultural pride and belonging.”
Judges said the photograph offers an insight into the relationship between the artist and subject. ‘Through its tight composition and simple colour palette interspersed with soft blue tones, combined with the vulnerability of a private yet familiar pose, the artist creates a portrait of palpable intimacy,” they said.
“Even though we can’t see the subject’s face, we are drawn into a connection with her, perhaps sensing the weight of her life experiences or recognising our own loved ones in this quietly captured moment.”
“There is both resilience and fatigue legible in Mae’s posture. With water droplets still on her skin, this is a candid scene but it also speaks to the depth of familial connection between artist and subject,” said the Judges.
Nathan Beard is a multidisciplinary artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. His work draws from his Australian-Thai heritage and explores family history, archives and broad signifiers of ‘Thainess’. His prize includes $30,000 cash courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery and $20,000 worth of equipment courtesy of Imaging Partner and First Prize supporter Canon Australia.
Phuong Nguyen Le is the winner of the First Time Finalist award for a portrait of his father Lê Ngọc Long, taken to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the American war in Vietnam, Judges said the conceptually innovative portrait had been executed with skill and tenderness.
“Phuong Nguyen Le has chosen to work with a technique that directly connects to the story at the centre of this work – illuminating photography’s role in painful histories including war and conflict. In adapting this technology to create a pair of beautifully rendered images, the artist performs an act of reclamation,” said the Judges.
“All elements of the work are carefully considered, including the device of duplication which poetically conveys the complexity of the subject Lê Ngọc Long’s wartime experience.”
Phuong Nguyen Le, who wins $3000 courtesy of EIZO, is a Vietnamese photographer, artist and researcher based in Naarm/Melbourne. His work engages with counter-historical narratives and draws on familial, communal and collective identities within his communities.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize was established in 2007 to celebrate and nurture contemporary portrait photography from across Australia. Open to established and emerging artistic talent, the exhibition provides a powerful visual record of the defining events, faces, moments and emotions that resonated from the year before.
The 2026 iteration of the National Photographic Portrait Prize is the final in the series as the Gallery makes way for a new prize model, launching in 2027. To celebrate the remarkable photography presented over the years, a curated retrospective will be shown alongside the 2026 finalists’ exhibition.
In the two decades since the Prize’s inception, the role of photography has evolved to be an ever-present influence in how we all interpret and navigate the world. The National Photographic Portrait Prize has offered an annual snapshot into Australian life, while demonstrating the breadth of the artistic medium.
Bree Pickering, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, said the National Photographic Portrait Prize has captured the spirit, vitality and breadth of contemporary portrait photography. ‘We are excited to present the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2026 alongside an alumni presentation of works from the past 19 years,” said Pickering.
“The retrospective highlights some of the most compelling, authentic and evocative portraits from over the years and, together with the 2026 finalist exhibition, offers a unique insight into the past twenty years of photographic portraiture in Australia.”
The National Portrait Gallery announced earlier this week Hussein Abdirahman Mohamud as the winner of the Art Handlers Award, for his portrait, UNTITLED: 01 2025, which captures Flemington public housing estate resident and community organiser Eedo/Aunt Khadija packing to leave her home.
The People’s Choice Award of $10,000, supported by the Calvert-Jones Foundation, will be announced in early October.
In 2026, 30 finalists were selected from more than 1000 entries. All finalists receive artist and copyright fees as well as all costs covered for freight and travel, supported by the Gallery.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2026 is on display at Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery until 11 October 2026, before touring nationally. For more information, visit: www.portrait.gov.au for details.
Images: Nathan Beard, Mae Khong, 2026 | Phuong Nguyen Le, Nghỉ/Nghiêm (Attention At Ease), 2025 | Hussein Abdirahman Mohamud, UNTITLED: 01, 2025 (from the series, What Remains?) – all photos courtesy of National Portrait Gallery