Portrait captured during lockdown wins National Photographic Portrait Prize People's Choice Award

5 October 2022

Queensland artist Luther Cora has taken out the People's Choice Award for the 2022 National Photographic Portrait Prize (NPPP) with his entry, Flora and Fauna, Giara: White Cockatoo, and takes home a $5,000 cash prize courtesy of the David Roche Foundation.

© Luther Cora. Flora and Fauna, Giara: White Cockatoo. People's Choice Award winner, National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022.
"This photo was one of a series I shot in my loungeroom in a makeshift studio during a short COVID lockdown period. I decided to try and create a floral headdress with native flowers. This triggered me to think, are we Indigenous First Nations people still classed as Flora and Fauna? Do we still have policies or Government acts in place that we fall into or come under like our old people did?" — © Luther Cora. Flora and Fauna, Giara: White Cockatoo. People's Choice Award winner, National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022. "This photo was one of a series I shot in my loungeroom in a makeshift studio during a short COVID lockdown period. I decided to try and create a floral headdress with native flowers. This triggered me to think, are we Indigenous First Nations people still classed as Flora and Fauna? Do we still have policies or Government acts in place that we fall into or come under like our old people did?"

Shot in a makeshift studio in his Gold Coast home during COVID lockdown, the portrait is one of a series that Cora produced of his daughers. “I put up a black sheet in my loungeroom, made some floral head-pieces out of native flowers and took photos of my daughters," Cora says. "It was something to do during lockdown, and because I wasn’t working I was able to focus more on my photography,” he said. Cora, a Yugambeh/Bundalung man, said the photo also reflects his own thoughts about Indigenous First Nations people, “and if we are still classed as flora and fauna,” he said.

Of the winning image, Robert Reason, Museum Director of The David Roche Foundation, stated: “This is a stunning portrait. Luther Cora’s photograph questions the historic and current position of First Nations people in our community. This sensitive portrayal of Cora’s daughter is a most deserving win!”

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