Domestic life series wins Australia's $40,000 National Photography Prize

Paul Knight, an artist from Ettalong Beach, New South Wales, has secured Australia's prestigious National Photography Prize. His winning series, "Chamber Music," offers an intimate look at his domestic life with his partner, Peter, exploring how relationships evolve daily.

The Audray Banfield Award, part of Australia's longest-running acquisitive photographic prize, comes with a $40,000 reward. Knight was selected from 12 finalists whose works are now on display at the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) for the 2026 National Photography Prize exhibition.

During the exhibition's opening, Morgan Hogg received the $5,000 Emerging Artist Award for "Silver Tongues." This work delves into the mythology of the Pacific, specifically the role of the Momokē, or water people of the underworld, in guiding souls.

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The work really captures the freedom with which artists are working today. Photography can be intimate, it can be highly conceptual or technically experimental and it can embrace all of the above. What’s exciting is the way these finalists are bringing all of these possibilities together, and finding new ways to make us look and see.

More than 330 artists submitted entries. A curatorial committee, including MAMA CEO Blair French, selected the finalists. Natasha Bullock, senior curator of photography at the National Gallery of Victoria, chose the prize winners. Bullock praised the finalists for their freedom and innovation, noting how they blend intimacy, conceptual depth, and technical experimentation.

Blair French highlighted the diversity of the finalists, who hail from across Australia and represent various career stages. Their works explore themes such as family history, intimate stories, memory, the environment, cultural identity, and connections to place. French also emphasized MAMA's commitment to its significant photography collection and the biennial competition's unique focus on an artist's body of work from the past two years.

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The work is diverse and covers many themes and concepts, including family history, intimate stories, memories, environment, cultural identity, and connections to place.