2021 sure has been a year like no other. This year’s National Photographic Portrait prize was themed Living Memory, and the collection of 79 finalists encapsulated the year that was.
The exhibition opening event scheduled for 30 July was cancelled due to COVID. Unlike Sydney, regional NSW wasn’t in lockdown and the ACT was still letting us in. The 11 hour drive to Canberra from Byron Bay was eerily quiet with only semis on the highway, and the odd car.
The exhibition didn’t disappoint. The images summed up the last 12 months of drought, bushfires, our collective isolation, fear and joy.
I hadn’t seen my portrait yet. The image went straight from my laptop to my printer and framer in Melbourne, and then onto a truck bound for Canberra. When I finally spotted it on the wall, Steve was viewing it from his wheelchair. His carer let me know it was Steve’s favourite portrait as it reminded him of his father. They were just about to take a photo of Steve with my portrait to send to Steve’s dad. I hadn’t won the prize, but meeting Steve had made the long drive worth it.
My portrait was of surfer Rusty Miller. 2020 was a tough year for Rusty with cancer taking its toll on him. I took this photo of Rusty on his verandah at home in Byron Bay as he reflected on the changes he was seeing in the town with the wave of cashed up migrants from the COVID cities. Rusty is the author of Turning Point: surf portraits and stories from Australia’s golden era of surfing in the early 70’s. The book is a reminder of our free-spirited, countercultural past when living was cheap and easy. Rusty is considered surfing royalty, and is featured in one of the most recognisable images in surfing: the poster for the classic 1972 movie Morning of the Earth.
Rusty Miller 2020
Rusty & Steve hanging out at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra